Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed
by thoth-moon
Summary: In a world where up is down, and topsyturvey rules the turf, an eccentric billionaire, revered by all, is searching for someone special to share the vast fortune with. Chaos ensues.
1. Chapter I

_Thothmoon again, with yet another of my brainchildren- possibly my oddest one yet, but I suppose I'll leave that up to the readers to decide, huh? I do not want to give too much away, I like the alure of mystery, you know, but I will be blunt when I tell you that this story is based in an Alternate Universe, and that I am quite serious when I word the title as "Inversed." _

_This first chapter is, I'll admit, brief and ambiguous, but as with all my current stories, I began to write it a while ago, and so some of its chapters are already written and waiting to be published on this site. I'll try to be routine when I can help it, but being as I am a review whore, the contribution of reviews may well be enough to bribe me to update more often _

* * *

Red, green, yellow, red. The traffic lights switched through the colors, only to repeat the cycle all over again. A haze of dust and exhaust fumes loomed over downtown. The sounds of horns blaring and aggravated drivers swearing polluted the ears of those within hearing range. Everyone was in a rush to leave work and go home to their families, dinner, and bed- only to rise in the morning to do everything again. The circle of urban boredom refused to break, entrapping everything that ventured too close and sucking them down into a dull abyss without change. 

One figure strode down the walk, coughing from the toxins given off by all the vehicles. He cursed the people who sat behind those steering wheels, with their air conditioning and radio. Oblivious cattle. They didn't have to walk the cracked, uneven streets of the downtown in the blazing sun, whose heat was only intensified by the pollution from their cars and factories. They didn't have to choke on the dust that rose from the barren Earth, where only the occasional patches of sparse crabgrass, yellow from thirst, managed to survive.

He wiped the sweat off his face onto his grimy sleeve and came to stop at the alley behind an old pawn shop. "It's me," he said.

The glowing red end of a cigarette briefly illuminated a silhouette resting in the shadows under the fire escape. "It's arranged, then?"

"Yes. The aforementioned vehicle should arrive at the Hotel Ningen between 8:00 and 8:10 p.m. Its occupant should be situated in his suite by 8:30. She'll strike then."

The silhouette beneath the stairs coughed. "Good. Keep an eye on everything, and report back to me when the job's finished." More coughing. "Now get out of here. My image would be tarnished if I were seen in the company of people like you."

They both laughed, their laughter soon smothered by the impatient horns of the middle class, eager to leave the inner city hell for the sanctity of their little green suburban havens.

Street lights came on in an effort to ward off the dark after the sun bade good night to the city. These lights bounced off of the limousine, showing off its glossy onyx exterior as it glided up the drive of the Hotel Ningen. Anxious attendants waited outside the entrance, eyes on the limo as it came to a stop. The chauffeur came around to open the back door.

The billionaire stepped out onto the red carpeting. He wore a shirt and pants of tailored silk under a full-length velvet coat, all of the inkiest black. A gloved hand gripped a cane fashioned of ebony adorned with a silver dragon, while polished boots walked casually up the walk. Everyone stared, entranced.

Hotel employees and a body guard escorted him to his quarters on the penthouse floor. "Can I get you anything, boss?" the body guard asked.

He removed his boots at the door. "That will not be necessary. You may leave me now, Shigure," he said softly. The man nodded, quietly taking his leave.

Not ten minutes passed when there came a knock on the door. He heaved a sigh of annoyance. Why couldn't his employees ever leave him be? "Come in," he called. The door clicked shut, but the newcomer was silent. "What is it?" he asked, turning around. He froze.

Standing before him was not one of his employees, but a stranger (obviously female) dressed head to toe in tight black clothing. A stocking cap was drawn down over her head, concealing her face. He stared, stunned, as this unidentifiable figure slowly raised an arm, the hand at the end holding a gun. "You should learn to lock your doors," a woman's voice said through the fabric of her makeshift veil. "But I suppose it's too late now, huh?"

She pulled the trigger.


	2. Chapter II

_Thank you, KyoHana (and I'm not sure if I spelled your name right, so I'm sorry if it's wrong), for the review I do enjoy your reviews a lot, they're quite well-worded, if that is the correct description for them. _

_As you all may notice from the date below, I was not lying when I said that a good chunk of this story was written prior to my posting of it here. Anyways, this chapter is where pretty much the rest of the story's cast is introduced. Do let me know how you think of these "inversed" characters, won't you?_

* * *

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 2  
May 8, 2005

"Urameshi's coming!" someone shouted. The schoolyard fell silent, the stragglers occupying it all watching the gates, practically dancing in place.

Whistling could be heard; seconds later the source of the melody appeared, walking with a spring in his step onto school grounds. The boy wore white tennis shoes, clean pressed pants, and a pastel green polo shirt with a sweater tied around his shoulders. He carried a stack of text books, all bound together with a leather strap. "Good morning!" he said cheerfully, smiling and waving to everyone. They all stared back at him, a predatory expression on each face. The boy began to sweat a little when he noticed this, and who all was outside. "Uhm, shouldn't we all be getting to class?" he asked uneasily as they approached him. "I mean, we wouldn't want to be late and- oh no!"

He assumed his normal position: curled into a tight ball, head tucked in, limbs wrapped around his school books, while his antagonizes pelted his body with random kicks and punches. 'Where's a teacher when you need one?' he wondered.

"Hey, get off him!"

A series of frantic profanity could be heard. Several people were either kicked or shoved aside, while the others quickly scattered.

"What's going on here!" a man's voice demanded. The principal was approaching the victim, the defense, and what remained of the attackers.

One of the lead bullies scrambled to his feet. "Uh, it was Yukimura! She just came up to us and started a fight!"

"You liar!" she snarled, taking a step toward the accuser.

"Miss Yukimura and Mr. Kuwabara, enough. I would suggest that all of you report to your respective class before I have to assign detentions for tardiness." Having spoken, he left the scene to return to his office.

"Weasel!" she hissed at the carrot-topped punk.

"Whatever," he said hotly, brushing the dirt from his clothes. He made a face, and spat; a bloody tooth landed on the pavement. "Why you!" he growled.

"You bit pansy! You wouldn't last five minutes downtown!"

"And you would?" Kuwabara sneered. "Come on, guys," he said to his companions. "I hear they're dissecting a cat in biology." He and the others cleared out.

She glared after them, and then glanced over. She heaved a sigh. "You can get up now, Yusuke," she said, rolling her eyes.

Yusuke got up, surveying the damage done to him. "Ow…" he whined, examining a bruise on his side.

"Will you stop?" she scoffed. "This wouldn't happen to you all the time if you'd learn to stick up for yourself and not depend on me and your buddy the principal to bail you out."

"Believe me, Keiko, he's not my buddy." Yusuke shuddered involuntarily. "Where are you going?"

"To smoke," she replied in a "duh" tone.

"What? But class is starting." Keiko snickered at his naivety as they passed the biology class.

"Hey Keiko! Urameshi!" Shrieks could be heard from inside the classroom, and then Kuwabara appeared, holding a cat's head. "Remember kiddies, no purple!" he said in a high-pitched voice, manipulating the cat's head with his hands so it appeared to be the one speaking. "Save it for marriage!"

Keiko turned a bright, angry red. "Oh, go annoy the Youkai, why don't you?" she yelled. "I'm sure the Yoko would love to take you out!"

"Mr. Kuwabara!" the teacher pleaded. "Return that head to the lab table at once!"

"I sincerely hope that thing was dead before they let him anywhere near it," Keiko muttered.

"I heard he blew up one in a microwave once." She shrugged. "Keiko, have you ever seen the Youkai?"

"I think I've seen a few of their people before. No big deal."

"Oh. So, have you ever seen the Yoko then?"

She laughed at him. "I'm alive, goody-two shoes. What does that tell you?"

"Oh." Of course. Everyone had heard of the Yoko, a mysterious member of the Youkai. No one really knew that much about the actual gangster, but rumors of the gruesome fates that befell the Yoko's victims spread like locusts. "Do you think maybe the Yoko's the one who tried killing Hiei Jaganshi last night?"

"Maybe."

"Hey, you two! Get to class!"

"What, you gonna hit me with that mop if I don't?" Keiko shot, strutting past the custodian.

"Uhm, Keiko?" Yusuke hurried after her. "Maybe he has a point…"

The custodian stared after them, tsk-tsking and shaking his head. If he could toughed up a bit, that Urameshi kid could really amount to something. But he always hung out with Keiko Yukimura, a girl with trashy clothes, gaudy gold and diamond jewelry, too much makeup, and an overly active smart mouth. That delinquent would ruin him.

"Mr. Jaganshi?"

"Should I tell them to go away, boss?" Shigure asked.

"No," he said weakly. "Let them in."

Shigure admitted the visitors, a man and a woman in suits and long coats. "Mr. Jaganshi," the man said. "I'm Detective Koenma. This is my partner, Detective Botan. We're investigating the murder attempt on you last night, and- Sir, are you okay?"

"What?" He'd been staring at the pacifier in Detective Koenma's mouth, wondering how he managed to speak with it in. "Yes, I'm fine. You were saying?"

"We believe the attacker entered the penthouse floor from the roof. That's the only lead we have though- the crime scene didn't turn up a speck of DNA or fingerprints, and the murder weapon's not there."

"Her entire body was clothed," he said. "She could have been anyone. And the murder weapon was a gun, obviously, but I don't know what kind."

"How do you know it was female?" Detective Botan asked.

"She talked to me."

"What did she say?" Detective Koenma asked eagerly.

"That I should learn to lock my doors," he replied flatly.

The detective visibly deflated. "Is that all?"

"Well, unless you count the gunshot…"

"Never mind. We'll check back with Forensics to see if they've found anything."

"You do that," he said mildly, watching the detectives' retreating backs. "Shigure, call Yomi. Inform him that I'll be indisposed for a while." He winced as pain shot through his shoulder. "And tell the nurse to give me more pain medication."

"So, what is the co-owner of Makai Enterprises doing at the Hotel Ningen anyhow?" Botan asked. "I mean, it's nice, but there has to be better places to vacation."

"He's not on vacation."

"What?"

"I read an article about this a few weeks back," Koenma said. "Apparently, he's abroad in search of someone to share his fortune with."

"What, like a wife?"

Koenma shrugged. "I guess. Why?" He noticed the look on his partner's face. "Botan, you can't seriously be thinking-?"

"Of course not!" She laughed. "But I can dream, can't I?"

"Dream on your own time," Koenma reprimanded. "There's still a would-be assassin on the loose."

"Where is she!" he yelled.

"Right here." The hulking form dragged a smaller one into the room. A young woman landed sprawled on the floor. "We caught her trying to flee the city."

"I see," he said, his voice dangerously calm. "You and your brother have my thanks." He approached the girl, standing right by her. "Explain!" he barked.

She flinched, and then opened her eyes, slowly looking up. Black boots ending mid-thigh, then fishnet stockings, short black leather skit and a matching sleeveless top accessorized with long white leather gloves.

At the cinema, cross-dressers were often portrayed as a combination of elements such as stupidity, vanity, flamboyancy, cattiness, and comedy. But that was the movies, stereotypes. This man was no stereotype- though he had the physique similar to and apparel of the presumed "weaker" sex, he was terrifying. Even the Toguro brothers didn't cross his path. She was so scared she didn't even dare look him in the face, not with that boot so close to her own.

"I missed," she said hoarsely. "The bullet hit his shoulder instead." 'I'm going to die.'

"Then whey didn't you shoot him again?" he grilled.

"The gun jammed!"

"Oh, the gun jammed," he sneered.

"What would you have me do? I barely escaped as it was!"

He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her up so she was eye to eye with him. "You'll stand by for my orders. Our dear Mr. Jaganshi can't stay in the hospital forever." He shoved her away roughly. "I'll entrust you to Sakyo until then. Surely he can afford you more decadent lodgings than I."

A man in the corner caught the petite figure flung at him. She shrieked; he looked up and saw why; in his shadier affiliate's clenched fist was a clump of aqua strands. "Careful now," he cautioned. "Don't handle her so roughly. She's not indestructible."

"Ethics, Sakyo? You should have put more thought into whom you allied with then."

"Hm. Too late now, I suppose. I left some lox in your fridge. Come on." He led the shaken woman outside, away from the enraged gangster.

"Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you look when you're angry?" He felt an arm slide around his shoulders, pulling his close. "So fiery; so wild."

The voice made a part of him cringe internally. "Get off me," he said through clenched teeth.

A long, spider-like hand played with his tresses. "So fiery," he repeated. "Just like your hair." He stroked the red silk, then ran a finger over the milky throat.

"Enough!" he snapped, pulling away.

"Come now," the other protested softly. "I know your desires are the same as mine."

"Desire what you will by yourself; I'm hungry." He got into the refrigerator and hunted for the promised lox from Sakyo.

The other one stretched out on the couch, staring at the cross-dressing object of his lust. 'Just because you deny me the right to touch, does not mean I can't look, my dear.' "How's the lox, Foxy?"

"It's fine," came the hasty reply.

"Save me some, will you?"

He nodded in answer, lighting up a cigarette. He sat at the table, alternating between taking bites of food and drags of smoke, trying to ignore the fact that those eyes were taking him in. The thought sent chills up his spine.

* * *

_"No purple" comes from something a classmate said at school one day. He'd been to a church lock-in (never been to one, hell if I ever will be), and he was with two friends who were girls, and the pastor saw them and said something like "no purple. (Get it? Blue boy; Pink girl. Mix them together, you get purple.) Yes, the pastor's apparently a moron, which is why I used the line for my inversed version of Kuwabara._

_In this AU, I'm trying to give Keiko the "image" of someone like those chicks from Grease- a movie I absolutely can't stand, but…_

_Lox is, I believe, a dish consisting of smoked salmon. I'm not sure, but I think it's rather on the expensive side. The only times I've ever heard of it is in books that take place in New York City. It sounds good, though._


	3. Chapter III

_Ah, Kyo Hana, thank you again for the review... I wonder if perhaps you're the only one reading this... eh, but so long as even one person is reading it, then I will continue to post Your hypothesis about Kurama may be correct, though I am not at liberty to reveal too much right now, you know? Oh, and happy to hear that you approve of my "inversed" Yusuke XD Anyways, this chapter introduces another character- I'm not so sure if he's as "inversed" as the others, but he has a part to play later on. _

* * *

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 3  
May 19, 2005

"Have those 'detectives' found any leads on the assassin?"

"All they've concluded is that she may have been employed by an enemy, a rival."

He snorted. "Isn't that obvious? Last I knew friends and allies don't send armed women in masks to each other's hotel rooms."

"Yes, well if the one who sent her is a rival, you may have cause to worry also."

"I'll keep that in mind," Yomi replied drolly. "Now, the idea you wished to discuss with me?"

"I think we should restrict the flow of our stones to market, for the time being."

"Oh? Go on."

"Hiruseki stones are so valued because they're so rare; possibly, the rarest stone on the planet."

"You don't have to tell me; I know."

"If we limit the number of stones put out, prices will go up; profit will increase."

"I see." He smirked. "Since when did you grow greedy, my dear Hiei?"

He donned a defensive expression. "Greed has nothing to do with it. These stones have been obtained through much sacrifice, and it's high time the parties involved received some retribution."

"Ah," Hiei's companion nodded knowingly. "Now you sound more like yourself." By now they had reached the drive; the chauffeur opened the door for them. The bodyguards entered the cars situated in front and back of the limousine.

"I hate it when they make such a fuss like this," Hiei complained.

"Don't blame me; the reason they're lavishing on security so is because of your incident at the Hotel Ningen, and you know it."

"I despise being coddled," he grumbled. "Even Shigure by himself can be stifling at times."

"You realize he only does that because she ordered him to."

Hiei pretended not to hear. He glanced out the window. "I'm no handicap!" he exclaimed angrily. "This all looks ridiculous!"

"I wouldn't know," Yomi said casually. Hiei at once fell silent, ashamed of himself.

Yomi sat back, pushing his cane aside, abandoning his glasses. Hiei stared; he couldn't recall a single occasion in which his companion had appeared in public view minus his dark glasses. Only a handful of people could truthfully declare that they in private had seen what lay beneath- ruined eyes, the lids sewn shut to prevent infection. Once, when Hiei was younger, he had gathered the courage to ask Yomi what had caused such a tragedy. The older man had told him it was a souvenir from his youth, when he had been reckless and stupid. He had volunteered no further explanation, and Hiei had never asked for more.

"I'm sorry-" he began, but Yomi waved the apology aside.

"There is no need for such remorse," he said. "I have gained much more than I have lost." True enough: Yomi had hearing sharper than anyone else Hiei had ever met, and when he grew infuriated enough it was wise that everyone stayed out of reach of his cane.

"How is your son?" Hiei asked.

"As fine as any boy his age can be. It's been a while since I've received a negative letter from his school, so that's encouraging." Yomi smiled. "And I suppose the additional bodyguards I sent to his school will be sure to keep Shura from getting into too much trouble."

"So you are worried," he said smugly.

"For myself? No. But Shura is my only child."

Hiei nodded. To Yomi, the child was more important, more priceless, than even the monopoly of Hiruseki stones.

"She thought of you as her own child, somewhat."

"I know," he replied softly, staring out the window.

"So you're to resume this new pastime of yours?"

"Yes."

Yomi laughed. "I'm glad to hear that the attempt on your life has not altered your personality at all. You're still as stubborn an ass as you ever were."

"Oh, thank you so very much," Hiei said sarcastically.

"Just be sure that when you return to the city, you stay the hell out of downtown at night."

"Why?"

"Downtown is the unofficial lair of the Youkai. They're most active at night; to go down there in the dark would be suicide."

He furrowed his brow. "What are the Youkai?"

His companion heaved an annoyed sigh and rested his face in one hand. "Hiei, you don't even want to know. Just stay out of downtown."

"But I-"

"For once, just take my word for it!" Yomi snapped. "Unless you want to be killed, stay out of downtown, away from the Youkai!"


	4. Chapter IV

_Well, Kyo Hana, perhaps you **are **the only one reading this... oh well, thank you I am glad that you like the "inversed" Yomi- I hadn't seen him in the anime before I wrote his character... I did end up renting a few episodes that had him in it, but the DVD was messed up and only showed the first one before freezing up entirely! ... So, I guess I'll have to wait for when/if Cartoon Network is so kind as to show the remainder of the damned show... Anyways, enough of my ranting... do enjoy the chapter._

* * *

"Ah, come on Keiko! Don't do this!"

"Keep out of it, Yusuke!" she growled. "This is none of your business!"

"Come on, don't drop out! Even Kuwabara's staying in school-"

"Are you saying that I'm dumber than Kuwabara?" Keiko demanded angrily.

"What? No! Oh, heck no, of course not! But if you drop out, he'll definitely rub it in your face- Ow!" He rubbed the back of his head; someone had thrown a book at him.

"Are you really going to stand there and take that?" she inquired tiredly.

Yusuke shrugged. "I guess. I mean, I don't even know who threw-"

"**_YO!" _**Keiko bellowed. Everyone in the hall, students and faculty alike, froze. "Who threw this," she held up the offending book, "at him?" She pointed at Yusuke.

Nobody answered. Yusuke could feel his face grow hot. "Keiko, this really isn't necessary," he said quietly.

"You!" she yelled, ignoring him. "Why the hell did you throw this at him?"

"Hey, what are you blaming me for?" Kuwabara asked defensively. "You don't know it was me!"

"Your name's on the inside of the cover, moron."

Kuwabara narrowed his eyes. "All right!" he blared. "Which one of you fiends stole my book? I need that to learn, you know, and if I don't receive a proper education, I'll end up being a two-bit punk the rest of my life, like Yukimura here- _OUCH!" _He shielded his head with his hands while an infuriated Keiko beat him repeatedly with the book.

"You goddamn, moronic, loud-mouth, spineless, arrogant, sonofabitch…." she continued rambling curses and profanities, angry tears, blackened with excess mascara, running down her face.

"That will be enough!" a man's voice roared. Everyone froze.

The principal walked down the hall, observing the scene before him with distaste. "You, and you," he hissed, pointing to Keiko and Kuwabara. "You're both to report to detention, after school, for disrupting the peace in my hallways." He noticed Yusuke standing by Keiko. "You too," he added. "After school. And you," he said to Keiko. "Go clean that muck off your face." He pointed to the black streaks on her cheeks.

"_Detention!" _he squeaked.

"Ooh… I'm so scared!" Kuwabara called out sarcastically to the principal's retreating back. Keiko merely shrugged, and hit the carrot-top over the head a final time, before dropping the book and leaving in search of a bathroom.

"My mom's gonna kill me," Yusuke groaned. Kuwabara snickered.

"See ya in detention, Urameshi," he said gruffly, pushing him aside.

Yusuke watched him walk away, chewing on his lip. Keiko had seemed pretty angry when she left… He shuddered, unsure of whom he should be more afraid of at the moment: her, Kuwabara, or the principal.

"Our friend's returned," he stated.

"Really?"

"I saw the limousine myself."

He snorted. "And how do you know it was his? All you wealthy bastards ride around in the same damn type of car."

"I'll have you know that my conception and birth were both perfectly legitimate," he said defensively. "I saw him get out. He's staying at the Hotel Ningen."

"What?" he asked, cigarette hanging out of his mouth.

"You're joking. How stupid is he?"

"I'm not," Sakyo answered. "And I wouldn't call it stupidity per se."

"Sakyo's right, Karasu. Returning to the sight of the attack on him has a somewhat symbolic meaning, at least to him. It's his way of telling the ones who plot against him- us- that he's not scared."

"Uh-huh," Karasu said disinterestedly. "But I'm not impressed. Shall we try again? Perhaps this time that bitch of yours won't miss."

"Her name is Yukina," Sakyo said brusquely.

"Whatever."

"I'm beginning to think that killing him may not be the best option…" he said vaguely, putting an end to what had the potential to be a violent argument.

"Really?" Sakyo asked.

He puffed the cigarette thoughtfully. "Perhaps. I'm not sure; give me some time to think it over. Discuss it…" he trailed off.

Sakyo waited for him to continue. "Don't even bother," Karasu said, observing his expectant look. "When he gets this way it can be some time before he talks again."

"I see," he said, watching the person in question curiously. "He does this often?"

Karasu smirked. "You don't know him so well, do you?" The subject of the conversation stood up. "Where are you going?"

"Away from you two," he said abstractedly. "You gossip like women."

This earned a chortle from the two seated men. "Oh, it is we who are like women?" Karasu asked. "I think that's the funniest thing you've ever said, Foxy." He delivered a sharp slap to the other's sparsely, leather-clad rear. "Hm," he said thoughtfully, squeezing. "You feel more corpulent than normal. Put on weight?"

He narrowed his eyes at the taunt. "That would be none of your business," he hissed, reaching around and grabbing the wrist of the harrowing hand, twisting it until Karasu yelled in pain. "I'll be going now." He released Karasu and went outside.

Sakyo raised an eyebrow. "Bit of a temper on him, huh?" he asked, observing the marks left on the wrist.

Karasu shrugged. "It varies," he said indifferently. "Kurama knows his place though- normally."

"I thought he was in charge?"

"It would appear that way, wouldn't it?" he replied furtively. He leaned back, pulled out a knife, and began to clean his nails. "Just you wait; he'll be back in a bit."

Sakyo deduced that either the two had disputes like this often, and so a pattern had been established, or that Karasu was psychic, as less than an hour had passed when the door opened and the redheaded transvestite reappeared.

"Back so soon?" Karasu asked offhandedly. Kurama glared at him.

"You may want to gather some extra hands," he said monotonously. "I have an idea."


	5. Chapter V

_To Kyo Hana, I believe I've heard of Robert Ludlum, but I don't believe I've read anything by him- I'll have tocheck him out sometime And I most appreciate your invitation regarding the DVDs, but wouldn't borrowing them prove difficult...?_

* * *

"Hey Keiko, do you get that weird feeling when you go to detention? Like you're home again?"

"Shut up, Kuwabara," she grumbled. "Any idea where Mr. Hard-ass took Yusuke?"

"How can I tell you? You told me to shut up."

"Fine," Keiko said testily. "You have permission to speak. Where is he?"

"Hell if I know," he answered with a grin. She glared at him. "What! I never said I knew, you just ass-" The rest of his sentence was muffled when the door to the nurse's office opened, slamming into his face.

Keiko observed the incident carelessly, and then looked to see who opened the door. "What were you doing in there?" she demanded.

"Hiding," Yusuke answered, emerging from the office. "I swear that principal has some skeletons in his closet I'll bet his wife doesn't know about."

"You swear?" Keiko teased. "'Heck' isn't a swear word, Yusuke. What sort of skeletons?"

"Extremely perverted ones," he said traumatically. "He's messed up."

"Are you a homophobe, Urameshi?"Kuwabara demanded, pulling himself up off the floor.

"No!" he said indignantly. "I just don't approve of child molesters. I'd feel the same way if it was Keiko instead."

"Oh." He smirked. "'Cause I was gonna say, you'd be pretty hypocritical if you were one."

"Knock it off," Keiko warned. "When you stoop so low you have to make gay jokes, you're more pathetic than I thought."

"I'm only kidding!"

She ignored him. "Our detentions are over," she told Yusuke. "We can go home."

The three encountered the principal in the entry way. "Where are you going?" he asked.

Kuwabara stood up straight, back rigid. "Sir, we have served our detentions!" he said in an official tone. "I will probably see you again same time tomorrow, or next week at the latest, Sir! Permission to be dismissed, Sir!" He gave the principal a mock-salute.

He rolled his eyes. "Permission granted, Mr. Kuwabara. Get the hell out of here. And you," he reached out and squeezed Yusuke's shoulder. "Stay out of trouble, Mr. Urameshi."

"Uh, yes Sir," he said nervously.

Kuwabara managed to control himself until they were at the bottom of the school steps, and then he burst out laughing. "Yeah, stay out of trouble, Urameshi. Wouldn't want you to get in a situation where the principal has to marry you."

"And now we know why Kuwabara flunked biology twice," Keiko muttered.

"Hey! You'd better be glad I don't beat the crap out of girls, usually."

"Yusuke," she said, ignoring Kuwabara. "I doubt that hiding in the nurse's office will help anything. Just hit him in the crotch next time he tries anything. That's what I always do."

"Who in their right mind would want to touch _you_?" Kuwabara demanded.

"Like, almost all the guy teachers at school!" Keiko retorted. "The school board's full of idiots; half the people they hire probably aren't even real teachers."

"Hey," Yusuke said, pointing. A black limousine glided down the street, passing them. "I wonder who's that is."

"Probably that billionaire Jaganshi guy," Kuwabara said. "I heard he was in town. Don't know why though; I mean, if some masked girl came to my room-"

"Only in your wet dreams," Keiko interrupted snidely. "He's here because he is, there's really nothing more to say."

"Did you hear why he came here to begin with?"

"Oh yeah, I remember. Hey Keiko, you ought to try out to be the one he shares all the green with. You could finance Yusuke and the principal's alternative wedding-"

"Shut up!" she snapped. "Look."

Emerging from an alleyway was a vehicle that almost resembled an armored car. It lingered at the juncture of alley and street, as though waiting, and then pulled out in front of the limousine. The latter crashed into the vehicular juggernaut, its front half totaled in the process.

The three stared, astonished. "Whoa," Yusuke managed. "Uh, should we call for help or something?"

Simultaneously, the doors of the large car opened, and several cloaked figures jumped out, fully armed.

"Holy crap!"

"Mr. Jaganshi, are you okay?"

Hiei rolled his shoulders and neck. "I'll live, Shigure. What did we crash-?"

Gunshots sounded in the air. "Get down, Mr. Jaganshi!" Hiei was flung to the floor as bullets penetrated the windows. He felt something warm and sticky dribble down onto his neck.

"Shigure?" There was no answer; instead, the shriek of metal tearing greeted his ears. He struggled under the dead weight, craning his neck to look up. He widened his eyes.

A generous portion of the limousine roof had been peeled back, a crouching, spindly silhouette staring down inside the car. "I have him," a man's voice said. Hiei felt himself being lifted up by the back of his jacket. He snatched up his cane from the seat and tried to fight off his attacker, but lost his focus as an odd-smelling rag was brought to his face. His hand let go of the sliver dragon; his body grew limp.

"I have him, Brother," he repeated.

A mammoth profile took the unconscious body. "You all finish up here," he commanded. "Mr. Jaganshi is late for an appointment with our friend the Yoko."


	6. Chapter VI

_Well, Kyo Hana, assuming you've hit the other two stories first, you should know by now that I'll be leaving soon and updates shall cease for a temporary while, so I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'd love to take up your offer on the DVDs, that'd be really cool, but not right now, as I will be leaving and they'd just end up sitting in the post office until I get back. But perhaps when I return, and the festival is over (yeah, a week or two after school starts the Renaissance Festival starts up and I work that every weekend for seven weeks), I may take you up on that, most appreciatively Let me know what you think of the meeting between Hiei and the Yoko, won't you? Later._

* * *

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 6  
May 22, 2005

A knock sounded on the door. "You may enter," he said. The door opened. "Ah, Toguro. What news have you brought me?"

The giant of a man watched the smaller body sitting hunched over on the bed, applying polish to his toes. "We have him."

"Was it hard?"

"Easy enough. Crashed the car, Yukina shot the chauffeur and the bodyguard, and my brother chloroformed the target. We left the rest behind to, ah, tidy up."

"Well done," Kurama praised. "And where is our rich friend now?"

"In the basement, tied up. He should be coming around anytime now."

"Brilliant. Contact our other rich friend, why don't you?"

"I'll get to it right away," Toguro replied, eying the redhead's long, slender, bare hairless legs, following the curves from the tip of his toes up to the hem of the tauntingly short skirt. Toguro was no homosexual, but Kurama looked so much like a woman both in physical appearance and apparel, a part of the time he forgot that the green-eyed beauty was in fact a man.

The transvestite rose and donned fishnet stockings, pausing when he noticed Toguro still standing there, watching. "You appreciate this?" he asked slyly, pulling on a thigh-length boot.

"Yes," Toguro replied honestly. "But I don't swing that way."

"Understood. Too bad, though. You're much more charming than Karasu. He-"

"What's this I hear about Jaganshi?" Kurama frowned at the sound of Karasu's approaching voice.

"I'm going now," he muttered to Toguro. He would rather not receive another belittling slap on the ass if he could avoid it. Kurama fled downstairs to the first floor, and then descended to the basement.

Dim lighting and a musty smell greeted him. He looked around the room, spying an odd profile in the corner. Upon further inspection, he observed that it was a young man clad in black, bound and gagged, slumped in a chair. At first, Kurama thought he was still out, but noticed the glitter of an eye peering at him through narrow lids. "Oh, so you are awake, Mr. Jaganshi," he crooned. "Or may I call you Hiei?"

Hiei bristled, and growled through his gag. "Oh, I'm sorry." Kurama loosened the gag. "What was that?"

"Who are you?" Hiei demanded.

Kurama smirked. "My apologies, darling. You may call me the Yoko, leader of the Youkai."

'The Youkai,' Hiei thought, beginning to regret not having listened to Yomi. "I take it that you're the one who sent the assassin after me?"

"My, my, how clever you are. And so handsome, too." He stroked Hiei's hair.

"Get your hands off me, Ma'am."

His eyebrows shot up, and he began to laugh. "You're amusing, I'll give you that." He withdrew his hands. "However, courtesy will not get you far here."

"Why go through all the trouble to kidnap me if all you want is to kill me?"

"Who said all we want is you dead?" Hiei looked puzzled. "Simply killing you would be child's play. Why do that, when there is so much more we could do? You're a billionaire beloved by the masses- why not make them and you suffer first?" He smiled wickedly. "Yes, they would mourn you anyway, but this way… Well, wouldn't it just smart even worse if we kept the public updated on your digress? Notes here, a photograph there, perhaps even a body part?"

"Sadistic bitch!" Hiei spat.

"Perhaps," Kurama said with a grin. "But why not? They deserve it."

"They're innocent!"

Kurama's expression darkened. "You know nothing of 'innocence'," he growled. "Those people-"

"So this is the infamous billionaire, Hiei Jaganshi?" Karasu casually approached the two. "Strange, you're much shorter than the media depicts you."

Hiei tensed. "And who are you, Dracula's understudy?"

"Amazing," Karasu said. "You're filthy rich, yet your retorts are poor. I suppose money doesn't buy everything."

"Touching statement, Karasu," Kurama said sarcastically. "Really. I loved the originality."

"What's eating you, my dear? Everything's coming together; our plan's running smoothly."

"_Our _plan?" he asked testily. "What part did you contribute?"

"Come now, that pretty little head of yours couldn't hatch a plot this intricate all alone."

Observing this squabble was Hiei, utterly perplexed. Was their fighting supposed to intimidate him in some way? "As much as I'd love to continue listening to this delightful lovers quarrel, what do you intend to do with me now, out of curiosity?"

"My, aren't you bold?" Karasu sneered. "Foxy, he has a mouth like you do." Hiei noticed the Yoko- or 'Foxy', as the man had called her- don a murderous expression.

"For now," the Yoko said, "we intend to leave you right here. Someone will come to better tend to you later."

"Well, what if I have to use the bathroom between now and then? Or I pass out?"

"Apparently, you haven't heard of my lovely companion's reputation," Karasu said. "He knows how to keep his victims conscious during torture until the very end. It's not wise to mock him."

'Something that perhaps _you_ should keep in mind, Karasu,' Kurama thought grudgingly.

_"He?"_ Hiei asked, astonished in spite of his current situation. The beautiful redhead, standing there in considerably less than modest fishnets and leather, was a man!

Both gangsters examined their hostage's face, and then Karasu began to laugh. "You thought he was a woman?" he jeered. Hiei didn't hear, he was too busy gawking at the cross dresser, who remained diffident.

There was a knock at the door, and the Toguros appeared. "Sakyo is waiting upstairs," the younger of the brothers said.

"Excellent," Karasu replied. "Come, my dear," he said to Kurama, resting his hand on the backside of the other.

Kurama pulled away from him. "I can escort myself," he said crisply.

"Of course," Karasu told him, his tone a little less than sincere. He left him, but not before stoking the redhead's milky throat. Kurama went rigid at the contact, and followed the other man out of the room, an aggrieved look on his face.

All of this did not go unnoticed by Hiei.

Sakyo glanced up as the door opened and Kurama entered the room. "I've heard you've procured Mr. Jaganshi," he said.

"Yes. You received our call?"

"Didn't have to; it's all over the news. Apparently, eyewitnesses reported that an unidentified armored vehicle collided with the limousine."

"What!" he growled.

"I'm not finished yet. They said that veiled gunpersons came out of the car, shot up the limousine, shot it up, tore up the roof, and then left with Mr. Jaganshi."

"No witnesses my ass," Kurama muttered angrily. "We'll continue our discussion later," he told Sakyo, rising and leaving the room.

"Where are-?"

"My orders have been disobeyed," he interrupted. "Punishment must be administered."


	7. Chapter VII

_So sorry, comrades, but I'm a little spent for time right now- which is why I haven't been able to update until now, even though I've been back for about two weeks (so sorry about that, by the way!)- so I can't afford my customary greetings and the like- just this cheap little form greeting that I'm gonna put in the header of all my updates today, damn me. I will return to you all as soon as I can- probably sometime this weekend, hopefully, or maybe even tomorrow night- but until then, please enjoy this update._

* * *

Hiei sat, wide awake. He hadn't thought himself capable of falling asleep, given where he was; however, he nearly had earlier, until an ear-splitting scream had jerked him back to consciousness. The first scream was followed by more, too numerous to count, progressively growing more hellish, agonized, so terrifying even to listen to. He knew not how much time had elapsed- as his wrists were bound behind the chair- between the first and final shrieks, or how long he sat in silence until he heard the creaking of the door opening.

"Did you miss me?" purred the soft alto voice of the Yoko.

"I was enjoying myself just fine until you showed up," he replied, staring straight ahead at the wall.

"Surely you must have been bored?" the redhead pressed, his tone resembling a pout.

"The noise upstairs was entertaining enough."

"Oh, so you heard that, did you?"

"I pity the one who made those sounds."

From behind the chair, the cross dresser smirked. "I wouldn't if I were you. They helped kidnap you. They were fools, every last one of them."

"_Were_?" Hiei asked, noting the use of past tense.

The next thing he knew, the Yoko sat straddled on Hiei's lap, his face barely an inch away. "Were," he repeated, a twisted, evil little smile on his face.

Hiei scowled. "What did they do that you had to kill them?"

"They messed up," he replied nonchalantly. "I instructed that they leave no witnesses, no evidence. Yet now I've heard that the news channels are recounting the events of your abduction, as they claim witnesses described."

"Witnesses?"

"Don't get too hopeful. This is but a minor setback, one I plan to remedy soon." He took a deep breath. "Now then," he muttered absently, leaning against Hiei, wrapping his arms around him. Hiei squirmed; if he hadn't believed that the gangster was a man before, he did now- he could feel it. He watched the Yoko's arms move, and widened his eyes when he saw a knife slip out from the top of the long leather boot.

"What-?" He stood up and yanked Hiei to his feet.

"Don't move," he ordered. He knelt down onto his knees in front of Hiei. The billionaire's body stiffened, unsure of what the Yoko was going to do. He glanced down; the cross-dresser was cutting the rope around his ankles. He rose and spun Hiei around; he could feel the coarseness of more rope being knotted around his wrists. "Walk," the Yoko commanded. Hiei felt the cold blade of the knife brush against his neck, and immediately obeyed.

"Where am I going?" he asked.

"Karasu's right, you are bold, especially considering how I'm holding a knife to your throat. Right against your jugular- if I pressed too hard, it'd sink through your skin, right into the life-vein…" he trailed off. "I'm taking you to another room; we need a nice cool place to store the bodies until they can be properly disposed of." Hiei shuddered a little.

The Yoko marched him upstairs, up to the first floor, into a mass of gangsters. Incomprehensive shouts and taunts were thrown his way, but he ignored it.

"Oh my, you're certainly cuter than your pictures in the papers," one of them crooned. This one's voice was higher than the others. He looked around and spotted _another_ scantily-clad redhead, very feminine in appearance. 'Don't make assumptions,' he cautioned himself. This one could be another transvestite, or a transsexual, now that he noticed its chest. The Yoko's chest was flat; this one, on the other hand….

"Why, I think he's checking me out," the soprano voice giggled. "Tell me, Mr. Billionaire, do you like what you see?"

Hiei grimaced as he felt the Yoko's grip on his shoulder tighten. "Actually, I was trying to determine you sex," he said flatly. "You see, I've been fooled once already today-" His face whipped to the side as this new redhead slapped him.

"That's enough, Ruka," the Yoko said firmly. "By the way, where were you today?"

Ruka donned a defiant look. "Out," she said crisply.

"I see…." he murmured.

"Well now, are we introducing our guest to everyone?" Hiei narrowed his eyes; Karasu approached. Look around, Mr. Jaganshi. What you see before you is the inner circle of the Youkai."

"Should I be impressed?" Hiei asked, bored.

"We decide your fate; you tell me."

"_We?" _the Yoko asked. "Sakyo and I decide his fate. The rest of you have no voice."

Karasu narrowed his eyes. "Of course." He blinked, and turned his head to the side. "Well, you'll probably take a while, correct? Shall we save you some dinner? The usual portions, I take it? Or perhaps that's not such a good idea? After all, with what you normally pack away, I'm surprised that pretty little skirt of yours hasn't ripped yet." He glanced at the redhead's rear. "It's getting fairly tight."

Ruka giggled; the other gangsters' expressions ranged from amusement to terror. Hiei winced as the Yoko's fingers dug deeper into his shoulder, like claws. "I appreciate your open concern for my health, Karasu," he snarled. "But perhaps it has caused you to lose concentration on more important things; for example, your _own _health?" He adjusted the knife he held ever so slightly, so that it almost appeared to be pointing at Karasu. "Also, I suggest you remove this 'inner circle,' as you call it, from my house." He paused a moment. "Except for Ruka," he amended. The female redhead's smirk quickly vanished, and she began to pale. "I'll return in a bit," he continued, steering Hiei toward another flight of stairs.

Hiei detected movement out of the corner of his eye; the largest man he had ever seen was walking alongside them. "I'm sorry, Kurama," the giant said.

"For what?" the Yoko asked. Hiei furrowed his brow, but then it occurred to him that the transvestite had to have a name other than 'the Yoko.' 'Kurama,' he thought to himself.

"I should have stayed and made sure there were no witnesses."

The Yoko laughed. Hiei blinked- it was a very melodious laugh, pretty even. "Toguro, just because your shoulders are broader than most does not give the rest of us ground to dump unnecessary weight on them. You had your duties, and they had theirs. They failed; failure is not an option if we expect to get through this intact. One must prune weak branches for the rest of the tree to survive."

"I appreciate your reassurances, but there's still witnesses out there."

"Yes," the Yoko said thoughtfully. "And even though you were cloaked, a man of your build may find it difficult to hide outside of our borders…. No worries, though. It'll be taken care of. In the meantime, grab some people and make sure there isn't any evidence left that could incriminate us, if you're able to make it past the crime scene."

"What about Ruka?"

"Leave her here," he answered frigidly. "She was told to go with you today. Perhaps the witnesses would have been noticed if _everyone_ was there doing their job. Why? Do you care what happens to her?"

"Not in particular."

"That's good," the redhead replied dryly. "Go make sure that Karasu has gotten rid of his little friends." They had reached a door; the Yoko opened it and pulled Hiei in after him, and then shut it. "He's here."

Hiei looked over and saw a young man sitting at a table. Unlike the gangsters, this one was donned in a business suit. He had black hair like Hiei, but his was long and sleek, obedient to the tools of hair grooming. Blue eyes, one slightly distorted by a scar that ran over it, looked up and examined him with scrutiny. The man chuckled softly. "He's much shorter in person." Hiei bristled.

"You forget, Sakyo," the Yoko said, "that in the past there have been very powerful men with not so powerful stature. Look at Napoleon. Or Hitler."

"Ah yes, I did forget." He donned a wry smile. "Well then, Mr. Jaganshi, it would appear that you've wandered into Russia, now wouldn't it?"

"At least Russia has the Kremlin," Hiei muttered. "Sakyo, was it?"

"Correct."

"Your name sounds familiar."

"Perhaps you've heard it before. Like yourself, I'm a rather wealthy individual; however, I made my fortune more privately than co-heading a corporation. I specialize in stocks, gambling- those sorts of activities." He sipped his drink. "Naturally though, my wealth's nowhere near as vast as yours. It must be nice, dabbling in the only known stock hold of Hiruseki stones."

"I suppose," he said reservedly.

Sakyo drained his glass. "Where are my manners? Mr. Jaganshi, have a seat. You too, Kurama- this is your house, after all."

The Yoko pushed Hiei into a chair, and then took the chair between his and Sakyo's. "What do you want?" Hiei asked the businessman.

"That's simple enough. I want your corporation. Your Hiruseki stones are to this new world even more valuable than the entirety of gold, spice, and slaves were to the old world. The one who holds the stones possesses the potential for great power, power that even you don't realize you could have. That, Mr. Jaganshi, is what I want."

He blinked, and shook his head. "It's true then," Hiei said, smiling subtly. "People desire what it is they cannot have the most."

"That is where you're wrong," Sakyo said. "Why do you think you're here? The correct documents shall be obtained, and you'll sign Makai Enterprises over to me."

Hiei laughed. "It's not mine to give," he said. "You'd need both our signatures for that."

The Yoko looked slightly puzzled, but Sakyo remained unfazed. "By both, Kurama, I believe he refers to himself and his business partner. Mr. Jaganshi, if you fear signing without your partner, there's no need to worry. I assure you, his absence shall be cured soon enough. If you want to wait until then, that's fine by me. I'm sure that my affiliate here has nothing against lodging you until then." Sakyo rose. "Well then, gentlemen- you aren't' offended if I refer to you as a gentleman, correct, Kurama?- I'm sure we're all tired, what with Mr. Jaganshi's kidnapping and Kurama and myself having to plan it. I'll leave you two to retire; Kurama, I'll contact you tomorrow." Sakyo showed himself out.

"You're stubborn," the Yoko remarked.

"Why aid him? Won't that mean I'll die sooner?"

"Who said anything about dying?" He smirked. "Perhaps I'll just lock you away until one of us dies." He pulled Hiei to his feet, dragging him into the hall, escorting him to another room. This one had a bed; the Yoko pushed him onto it. Hiei thrashed when the redhead yanked off his boots and reached for his belts.

"Get off me!" he growled.

The Yoko ignored him. "Why the hell does one need more than one-? Ouch! Don't bite me!"

"Get off me!" Hiei repeated angrily.

"You don't even know what I'm doing!" he protested.

"I can guess!"

He rolled his eyes, and in one fluid motion removed the belts and slid Hiei's pants off of him. Hiei stared, amazed and enraged at the same time. The Yoko shrugged. "I've had practice," he said simply.

Hiei glared and drew his knees up to his chest, locking them together tightly. "Stay away," he hissed.

He shook his head. "I'm not after that," he told him, amused. "You flatter yourself too much."

"Then why did you-?"

"Because I don't feel like staying up all night making sure you don't try escaping. And believe me- running around without these," he held up Hiei's pants, "would be most unwise." He didn't have to elaborate; Hiei understood what he meant. "Sweet dreams, Mr. Jaganshi." The Yoko turned off the light and closed the door behind him, leaving Hiei in the dark feeling very vulnerable and alone.

Karasu watched Kurama brush out his hair. "Do you feel better about yourself now that you've killed her?" he asked snidely.

"What do you mean? Am I supposed to?"

"Well, she was younger than you, prettier than you…." He paused. "Thinner than you."

"Aesthetic appeal is nothing more than the bias of the individual's mind. I'm satisfied with my appearance."

"You could put the fork down once in a while," Karasu muttered.

Kurama glared at him. "My weight's exactly where it should be," he said crisply. "I know it might please you in many ways to see me grow sick and anorexic, but your taunts won't make it happen." He bent over and messed with his fishnets.

Karasu made a disgusted face. "Ugh! Put that away! I may as well make love to a big old saggy pillow."

"That does it," Kurama growled, spinning around. "First of all, Ruka died because she was useless and a burden, not out of jealousy. Second, you never 'make love' to anything- to you it's only about our own damn pleasure. Third, if you'd really prefer to go at it with a bit old saggy pillow than me, by all means, I'm not going to stop you. Or, better still, since you liked stupid, pretty little Ruka so much, why don't you go see her? I pus her corpse in the basement."

"Maybe I will," Karasu said hotly, standing up. "Oh, by the way," he continued as he passed Kurama. "At least Ruka had a nice rack. Even dead, she's still an actual woman, unlike you." He bent down, wrapped a hand around the redhead's throat, and whispered into his ear. "You like dressing up and being another man's plaything, but maybe everyone would buy the act much better if you went out and bought yourself some nice big breasts, Suichi."

The last word came out in a high-pitched hiss. Kurama bristled, his vision growing blurry. Karasu snickered, squeezed the redhead's butt (making rude comments under his breath), and left.

Kurama clenched his teeth and hurled the brush at the door, not caring when the brush broke in two. He slumped into a chair and concealed his face with one hand, body wracked with dry sobs.


	8. Chapter VIII

_As with my other stories, updates shall be irregular for a little bit due to lack of time during the week due to school and the weekend due to the festival, but I'll do my best to give you guys something during then, okay? Anyways, I hope you find this chapter somewhat humorous; I'll be back with more when I can._

* * *

'I should have listened to Yomi,' Hiei thought to himself. He listened as people passed his room, hoping that someone would stop at his door. After a while he heard the lock on the door turn, the door opened, and the Yoko appeared. "Finally!" Hiei said.

"Oh?" He quirked an eyebrow. "Did you miss me?"

"No," Hiei growled. "I need to use the bathroom."

The Yoko smirked. "Okay then." He grabbed Hiei by the wrist and led him into the hall.

"Wait, what about my pants?"

His smirk grew wider. "What do you need your pants for to use the bathroom?" They passed a few gangsters in the hallway; Hiei felt his face grow hot as they snickered and made crude remarks.

"Kurama, give him one of your thongs," one of them called.

"Shave his legs!" another said.

"I hate you," Hiei muttered to his captor.

The Yoko looked at him thoughtfully. "They may have a point," he said slowly. He smiled mischievously. "Want to borrow one of my razors?"

"Fuck off!"

"Or," he continued, "if you're really good, maybe I'll let you use some of my Brazilian wax-"

"No!" he snapped. "Give me my pants!"

"Someone's feisty," the cross dresser declared. "Why do you need your pants? If it's modesty you're worried about, those boxers more than cover everything."

"I should have expected that someone like you would consider this 'covered'," he grumbled.

"Well, you're not getting your pants back. I figured their absence would make you uncomfortable- so long as you don't have them, I'll bet you won't be going anywhere. You could bet one of the papers would be sure to run a picture of the beloved billionaire- that would be you- in his underwear, right on the front page."

"Shut up." The Yoko was right, though. If he could avoid it, Hiei didn't want to have to flee to the police in his boxers. The rumors that would produce…

The Yoko kicked open a door, revealing a small bathroom that reeked of mildew and urine. "It's badly in need of cleaning, I know," he said. "But it's still functional." He let go of Hiei. "Have at it."

Hiei walked to the toilet, and then paused when he realized that the door was still open, and the Yoko was standing in the doorway. "Do you mind?"

"No." Hiei glared. "What? I have to make sure you don't climb out a window or something."

"But you have my pants- wasn't that to make sure I didn't leave?"

"Oh yeah…" the Yoko murmured. He smiled. "Well, my house, my rules. And as far as prisoners are concerned, I institute an open-door bathroom policy."

"Son of a bitch," Hiei growled.

"That's right," he countered coolly. "But remember: you're a hostage, and I'm your subjugator; I don't have to kiss your ass like most others- if anything, it should be the other way around. Now go or I'm taking you back to your room." Hiei glowered, but pulled down his boxers and urinated. "Are you done?" he asked after a minute. The shorter one nodded. "Good." Barely giving Hiei time to pull his boxers up, the Yoko took his arm and practically dragged him back to his room. "I have things I need to do, so the Toguros shall guard you. Entertain yourself if you can, though I really don't give a damn if you can or not."

Hiei could think of at least one thing to do: sleep. Last night he had the pleasure of listening to a woman- Ruka, he assumed- being tortured and, he was sure, killed. And then someone in the room next to his had spent a generous portion of the night crying. Who it was, he didn't know. Perhaps he wasn't the only prisoner in this house.

"What are you going to do?" Toguro asked.

"Never you worry," Kurama said. "I have an idea."

"You don't look so well."

He shrugged. "I didn't sleep so well last night. Quit worrying over me. Keep an eye on him," he gestured to the door. "By the way, I'm putting the both of you in charge of body disposal. I don't care how; knock yourself out."

"Our pleasure," the shorter, spindly Toguro said evilly.

"I thought you'd enjoy that." He smoothed his skirt. "Oh, and one other thing- if Karasu shows his worthless hide around here today, flatten him."

Detectives Koenma and Botan sat nervously by while their boss looked over pictures from the crime scene. The totaled limousine was most definitely Hiei Jaganshi's; it bore his seal: a malevolent-looking eye. The chauffeur and bodyguard, both riddled from bullets. Jaganshi's walking stick with the silver dragon handle. Blood, but none of it the billionaire's. Broken glass, mangled metal… "What do you mean there weren't any bullets?" the lieutenant demanded.

Koenma cleared his throat. "There were bullet holes, but no actual bullets. But there should be; the wounds were all entry and no exit."

"We're thinking maybe they were ice bullets," Botan added.

"Terrific," the lieutenant said sarcastically. "Then we probably have a professional on our hands. They must have wanted him alive; it's unlikely that a professional would have missed him. Any chance this is the same assassin from before?"

"The first attempt was much clumsier, and we found the bullet. Besides, the first assassin was a woman."

"And who says this one isn't?" Botan asked, glaring at Koenma.

"Knock it off you two," the lieutenant barked. "Check back with your witnesses; I'll look in later."

The detectives both heaved sighs of relief when they left the lieutenant's office. "Gods, what an ogre," Koenma muttered.

"Help! Somebody help me!"

They looked down the hall; it appeared that two women- of questionable virtue, judging from their clothes- had just burst into the station. "I am so glad we don't have to deal with that," Botan said.

"Oh yeah- why deal with two hookers when you can work on the Jaganshi case?" Koenma asked sarcastically. "Our job is _so _much easier."

"What's wrong?" an officer, a young man, asked. The women- both clad in indecently fashioned leather- practically threw themselves at him.

"Please, Sir," the redheaded woman blubbered. "My friend and I were out looking for work, and we met these men, but they didn't want to pay, and they pinned us down and-" she broke off, burying her head in the officer's shirt and sobbing noisily.

"Uhm, Ma'am? Have you and your friend been to a hospital?"

"What?" the other woman, a short girl with aqua hair, asked. "But I thought we were supposed to go to the police?"

"You are, but we need proof that you were raped. You'll both have to submit to a rape kit."

Both women looked distraught; the younger one sank to the floor and began to cry hysterically. "But the hospital's uptown!" the redhead protested. "If we go up there everyone will take on look at us and- Oh!" she tripped over her companion and crashed into a passerby. "Oh," she sniffed. "I'm so sorry, young man."

Yusuke blinked. "Uhm, that's okay. Are you all right?"

She wiped inky tears from her overly-made up face. "As fine as I can be, given the circumstances." She looked up at him. "Have you ever been raped?"

"What!" he asked, shocked.

"I think I need a hug," she sobbed, wrapping her arms around him.

"Okay," Keiko growled. "That's enough." She separated Yusuke and the redhead. "Let's go, Yusuke." She pulled him down the hall.

"Hey Urameshi, I think she likes you!" Kuwabara exclaimed, following them and grinning like a fool.

"Who were they?" the younger woman asked the cop trying to comfort her.

"Oh, I think those were the kids from the Jaganshi case," he said absently, stroking her hair. "Don't you worry now; I'm here. Everything will be- Oh, damn it. Hang on a second, ladies. I have to answer the phone."

His call lasted barely a minute, but by the time he hung up and turned around, both women had vanished.

"Have they found Hiei yet, Dad?" Shura asked.

Yomi shook his head. "No, they haven't. Have you changed yet?"

"I changed when we got home."

"Well how am I supposed to know that?"

"Can I go watch T.V.?"

"Fine; no news channels though." Hiei's kidnapping was the headline of all the newspapers and stations. He'd forbad Shura from reading or watching anything on the matter- if they turned up anything morbid, he wanted Shura to hear it from him rather than a reporter or the evening paper.

That and he didn't believe that Shura had realized the two of them may well be targets to whoever abducted Hiei, too. He'd already pulled the boy out of school, for the time being. Like most boys his age, Shura couldn't be happier with the prospect of legitimately missing school. Save for attending Shigure's funeral today, all Shura had done was watch television and goof off.

Yomi prepared a cup of coffee, fetched the Braille newspaper, and went to sit at the back patio. He enjoyed his free time here, sitting by the garden. He couldn't see the vegetation surround him- he hadn't been able to do that in a long time- but he could smell it, feel it, hear the rustle of leaves and grass as the wind blew through it. So unlike his surroundings as a child. In his youth, there were no plants in the neighborhood he grew up in, except for half-dead grass. Everyday he choked on the dusty haze that constantly hovered over the ground from lack of plant growth to anchor the top soil. Except for one house, on that was lucky enough not only to keep grass alive, but other plants too- flowers, bushes, even some trees- thriving and green. But in time, even that yard too fell barren.

His ears picked up something, a foot step. He sipped his coffee, gently set the cup back on its coaster, and continued reading. Gradually the foot steps grew louder, closer. 'Moron,' Yomi thought. Each step the invader took, to Yomi, was as loud as Shura's stereo. He found his cane, discreetly grabbing its middle.

Suddenly, Yomi sprang to his feet, whirled around, and struck out with the cane. He afforded a cruel smile of satisfaction when he heard a sickening crack, followed by a thud. He reached for the knob handle of the cane, nodding casually when he felt a warm, sticky liquid there.

"Mr. Yomi, I thought I heard-" the maid stopped as she approached, staring at the body on the floor, with its head bashed in, horrified. "Mr. Yomi?"

"Darling," the blind man said placidly. "Would you be a dear and notify the authorities?"


	9. Chapter IX

_Ugh, it's been so long since I've updated this! My apologies, everyone; I'm really going to try being better about making more orderly updates. This chapter is where the various characters begin to mesh together; hope you enjoy._

* * *

"Come in," Kurama called. Toguro entered. "What'd you find?"

Toguro laid an envelope on the cross-dresser's bed. "His school, address, friends…"

"Excellent," he said, sitting up. "I was afraid that what I gave you wouldn't be enough."

He laughed. "His wallet? More than enough. Oh, here; courtesy of Mr. Urameshi."

Kurama eyed the gift, a chicken sandwich Toguro must have picked up while he was out. "No, thank you."

"Come on; you never eat good food anymore."

"There's plenty of nutritious stuff in this house."

"Yeah, that Karasu and his friends all eat. You don't get anything."

"I'm fine."

"You're killing yourself," Toguro stated flatly.

Kurama shrugged. "What does it matter?"

"If he's the reason you're doing this to yourself, I'll-"

"No, Toguro. This has nothing to do with Karasu. I wasn't happy long before he showed up."

"He worsens everything."

"Yes, well, if he didn't, I'm sure someone or something else would."

Toguro was quiet for a moment. "Whatever it is, you could tell me if you wanted."

The redhead laughed sardonically. "No, I couldn't."

"But you could tell Karasu-"

"If I told him anything, I must have been drunk," Kurama said sharply.

His companion sighed. "Please, just eat the sandwich. It'd do you good to take in something besides alcohol and leftovers."

He earned a glare, but Kurama reluctantly accepted the sandwich and began nibbling on it. "I talked to Sakyo earlier," Toguro continued.

"About?" Kurama asked, a bit of lettuce handing out his mouth. The giant smiled slightly.

"Mr. Jaganshi's business partner." He didn't receive a reaction. "Have you been watching the news?"

The transvestite eyed a piece of tomato, and then popped it into his mouth. "Toguro, allow me to share something with you. The news- most of it, at least- is little more than a mess of fabrications and twisted truths devised by the media putting it out."

"Well, Sakyo's sent out three of our people on different occasions to get this guy."

"So?"

"The first guy was reported dead on the evening news. The target bashed in his head with a cane."

"Is Sakyo the only rich man who doesn't carry a cane?" Kurama asked through a mouth full of chicken.

"This guy's blind."

Kurama quit eating, an eccentric expression upon his face. However, the look vanished a moment later. "Interesting," he murmured. "What about the other two?" Normally, Kurama hated gossip, but he felt this pertained to business.

"You won't believe this," Toguro said with a smirk. "They were both found this morning in an alley in central downtown."

"Dead?"

"And apparently tortured."

"They never reached the target?"

"Actually, I think it was the target himself who tortured them. There was a mark burned into each of their foreheads, the emblem of the company."

"Oh, that evil-looking eye. Then he knows where they were from… or, at least, suspects. I suppose that if he knew for sure he would have led the police down here already, or he's tried to and they wouldn't do it."

"The cops are terrified of coming too deep into downtown."

"Why do you think we've evaded justice for so long?"

"I thought you said that justice was a myth?"

Kurama smiled. "For us, it is. For people like Mr. Jaganshi though, they'll be sure to punish someone. Even if it's just a scapegoat instead of us."

"That's justice?"

He shrugged. "To some, so long as someone- doesn't matter who- pays."

Toguro nodded, eying the redhead triumphantly. "I see you enjoyed that sandwich that you didn't want," he said, watching while Kurama polished it off.

The cross-dresser smiled sheepishly. "It was good," he said. "What else does Mr. Urameshi have to offer?"

"Care to find out?"

"Sure- oh, but wait a minute, please." He walked out to the hall and into the room next door. "Are you awake?" he asked.

"Yes," Hiei growled from the bed he was bound to.

"A shower," he grumbled. Kurama smirked.

"We'll see. Do you need to use the toilet or anything?"

"No."

"Okay; I'll bring you something, maybe." He left and locked the door.

"Since when are you nice to prisoners?" Toguro asked.

"I… don't know." He shrugged.

"Or perhaps you've just gone soft," someone said maliciously. Karasu approached them from the stairwell.

The redhead narrowed his eyes. "I didn't ask your opinion," he said coldly. "I'll be back later."

Toguro observed the two indifferently. Kurama had dissented against Karasu in the past, but almost always yielded in the end. He didn't understand why. "You ready to go?" he asked.

"Hang on a moment." Kurama took the key to Hiei's room and slipped it down one boot. No way in hell would he let Karasu in there while he wasn't around. "Yes, I'm ready."

"Hey, Kuwabara, Urameshi's coming this way. Wanna mess with him?"

"Huh?" The carrot-top looked up. "Naw."

"Ah, come on. We haven't beaten him up for a good few days now."

"I said no," Kuwabara growled, getting up and leaving. "Hey, Urameshi, wait up."

"What?" Yusuke eyed him warily. "You're not going to stuff me in a locker or anything, are you?"

"No." They strolled down the hall. "Where's Keiko?"

"She had to stay after class and discuss with the teacher why you're not supposed to hit the flag with spitballs."

"Oh." He laughed. "Figures." The two boys sat down by the flagpole, waiting for Keiko to come out. She finally emerged nearly fifteen minutes later, looking rather pissed. Her mood made no improvement when Kuwabara asked, "Hey Keiko, how about we build a catapult and launch a huge spitball at this flag too?"

"Shut up," she said in a lethal tone. "Let's go." Not knowing who she'd said it to, and not wanting to further enrage her, both Yusuke and Kuwabara followed her down the street.

The trio walked for some time, and finally Yusuke mustered the courage to speak. "So, what'd the teacher say?" An animalistic snarl quickly discouraged further questioning.

"Psst. Hey, Urameshi," Kuwabara muttered. "Is it just me, or is that van following us?"

"What?" Yusuke turned around to look. Indeed, a large, grayish van, which lacked windows save for the ones up front, was cruising down the street at a slow pace. "You're probably just paranoid," he said as Keiko led them into an alley. "Why, just the other day, I could have sworn that some huge guy on a motorcycle was following me around-'

"Was it the principal?" the carrot-top cracked. "Or are you more popular than I thought?"

"- the city," Yusuke continued, shuddering at the reference to the principal. "But it's all in your head, your imagination."

"Uh-huh," Kuwabara said. "Well, right now my imagination's really messing with me, or that can's still following us."

Keiko turned around and quirked an eyebrow when she too saw the vehicle driving down the alley. "Uh, maybe it's a delivery van," Yusuke said nervously. "And they have to pull in behind the building…"

"Yeah, will, this is starting to feel familiar, and in a very creepy way," Kuwabara stated. "I think we need to get the hell out of here." The van stopped, just a few yards away from them. "_Now!_" The three took off sprinting, speeding up even more when they heard footsteps running after them.

"How about we split up?" Keiko suggested in between breaths.

"Yeah!" Yusuke agreed. "And the first one to find a phone calls the-"

Yusuke never finished his sentence, though. He felt something hard collide with the back of his head, and then numbness washed over his body as he fell to the ground. Moments alter, two other bodies echoed him, making thumping sounds as flesh met with gravel below.


	10. Chapter X

_I would throw out my usual commentary, but I'm shot for time and really need to get going, so here's the chapter, there's a few interesting twists in there, let me know what you think, won't you? Later._

* * *

Hiei tossed and turned in his bed. The person on the other side of the wall was crying again. He groaned- before the crying it had been arguing and door-slamming. To whom the voices belonged, he didn't know, but he was quite sure the name 'Suichi' came up at least once.

Perhaps he would ask the Yoko if there was another hostage in the house. The past few days he'd noticed a change in the gangster's conduct: he was behaving nicer. He brought Hiei a sandwich from a restaurant, let him take a shower, disregarded the open-door bathroom policy imposed upon the billionaire, and even gave him back his pants. Hiei was still locked up in his room, tethered to his bed, but all things considered he didn't feel half-bad.

The crying next door began to die down, and soon he couldn't hear it at all. Hiei managed to doze off for a while, when a commotion in the hall snapped him from his partial slumber. 'What the-?' He widened his eyes when he heard a girl yell. 'Damn it, not again.'

But no other screams, no agonized cries, no shrieks of death, followed the first. He furrowed his brow. What was going on?

For several hours more he lay in darkness, border lining the realms of conscious and sleep. Then the door opened and a short figure entered. "Hello," a woman said.

Hiei snapped wide awake; he knew that voice. "Well," he said softly. "We meet again. You're not going to shoot me, are you?"

"Only if Sakyo or Kurama tell me to," she replied. "Is it always this dark in here?" She walked to a window and tore down the blankets nailed over it. "That's better!" she exclaimed, while Hiei squinted repeatedly. It was sunrise, and this window received a direct glare from the morning sun. He shifted, craning his neck in an effort to soother his eyes, glowering at the woman. Suddenly he noticed her appearance- the short stature, fair skin, her hair-color, her eyes…

She caught him staring at her intently. "What?" she demanded.

"Nothing," he said quietly. "Except…you're a Koorime."

"And you're a genius," she countered sarcastically.

"You're a little far from home, aren't you?"

"What, just because I'm a Koorime means I have to spend my life in the middle of nowhere, in the cold, working in the Hiruseki business. We're not all your dogs, Mr. Jaganshi."

Hiei remained passive. "I know what life's like up there, you know."

"Do you now?" she sneered. "It was all a big fairy-tale for you, but when you left you changed nothing for the rest of us!"

"What?"

"Conditions are all the same as they were before!" she snarled. "It's still the same, isolated hell it always was- no one comes in; no one comes out. People are born, live, and die in there; there's no escape!"

He listened patiently. "Is the population problem still the same?"

"Yes! There are so many girls now, some are even being sold off-" she broke off, clenching her fists angrily.

"Is that how you ended up here?" Hiei asked.

"Partially. This is why when Sakyo asked me to, I gladly accepted the task of assassinating you."

"But you missed," he mused, ducking as she pelted a balled-up blanket at him.

"Now, now, my dear," Sakyo said, standing in the doorway. "No damaging him too much, yet."

She threw Hiei a murderous look, and then stalked out of the room. "So, she's your goon, not the Yoko's?"

"Of course. She's far more refined than most of Kurama's Youkai."

"Why are you here? I'm not signing anything."

"You will," Sakyo said casually. "Once we have your partner."

"That's what you said last time. What, some old blind guy's too much for you?" Sakyo's arrogant expression disappeared, replaced with a steely glare. "Uh-huh." Hiei smirked. "That's what I thought." He wasn't too worried about his business partner; Yomi could take care of himself well enough. "Why are you here, then, if it's not for my signature?"

"Just because I'm here is has to be about you? Aren't you conceited? I'm here because the ones who witnessed your abduction have in turn been abducted themselves."

Hiei remembered the disruption from earlier. "Where are they now?"

"I don't know; Kurama hasn't shown me yet."

"So impatient." Hiei recognized the Yoko's voice. "I'm right about to, Sakyo. If you'll follow me?"

"Good day, Mr. Jaganshi." Sakyo waited for Kurama to lock the door.

"Remind me to install a deadbolt on this," he muttered. "If she managed to pick it…"

"Your home is beginning to fall apart," Sakyo pointed out. "Perhaps you should make some renovations?"

"No; it's fine as it is. Follow me." Kurama led the other man down into the cellar. This time there were three chairs accommodating three bound and gagged persons: two boys and a girl. "May I present to you our witnesses?"

Sakyo blinked. "You're sure? That one looks like one of yours." He pointed to the girl. Kurama smiled, partially amused.

"I assure you, I'm quite positive."

One of the boys, the tall one with curly, carrot-colored hair, said something, muffled by his gag. "What was that?" Sakyo asked.

"I don't know." Kurama loosened the boy's gag. "Care to repeat that?"

The carrot-top barely gave Kurama time to complete his sentence. "Hey Urameshi, isn't this the whore who threw herself at you in the police station? _Ow!_"Kurama had punched him in the face. "What the!"

"Mind your tongue!" the redhead snarled.

"Ow, damn it. Keiko, she hits harder than you."

The girl, presumably Keiko, muttered something in reply; it sounded malicious. "May I?"

"Knock yourself out, Sakyo." The businessman removed Keiko's gag.

"Kuwabara, you moron," she growled at her companion. "He's not a girl."

"What!" Kuwabara exclaimed. He examined Kurama carefully. "Are you sure?"

The conversation quickly annoyed Kurama. "Shall I prove it to you?" he asked frostily, hand migrating to the zipper of his skirt.

"No!" Kuwabara practically screamed. "Uh, no. I believe you. Please don't rape me."

Kurama raised his eyebrows, chortling. "Your friend's right; you are a moron."

"Hey! I-"

"Shut up." He leaned against the wall, watching the three new hostages. "I'll tell you this: if you're quiet and do exactly as told, you might- just might- have a chance of getting out of this with your life. If not, well…" Kurama shrugged, the expression upon his face sinister.

"Oh, puh-leaze," Kuwabara said. "You're probably just another Youkai-wannabe like Keiko here- you wouldn't have a chance if you went up against a real criminal like the Yoko or someone- why are you laughing?"

The redhead held a hand over his mouth, shaking his head. "You children really have no idea what you've gotten into. I am the Youkai; I am the Yoko."

The three blinked, and then Kuwabara began to laugh. "No, you can't be the Yoko." Kurama gave him a look, mutely daring him to continue. "I mean, come on, the Yoko's like a legend, a criminal mastermind. Everyone's scared of the Yoko. But you, you're…" he trailed off.

"A what? I'm a what?" Kuwabara didn't say anything. "Finish what you began," he growled. "I'm a what?"

"Well, come on; you wear girl's clothes, for crying out loud."

Both Sakyo and Kurama began to laugh. "Oh, my dear little imbecile, you really must learn not to judge others by their appearances. Believe me, I am the Yoko- or do I need to show you?" He carelessly slipped a knife out of his boot, flipped it open, and ran a finger over the serrated edge. "Well then," he continued. "Which of you shall I demonstrate on first?" Kuwabara paled slightly.

"What does the Yoko want with three kids?" Keiko asked, completely unaffected by the presence of the blade.

He rolled his eyes and heaved an annoyed sigh. "Sakyo," he said as he lit up a cigarette. "I don't know why we were so worried; I doubt the cops managed to extract any incriminating information from these apes."

"Hey! Who're you calling an ape?" Kuwabara demanded.

"You, ape," Kurama replied coolly, blowing cigarette smoke in his face.

"Why should I be scared of you? You gonna try to give me lung cancer or something?"

"I don't think they're taking this seriously, Kurama," Sakyo said.

"No, really?"

"So, uhm, when do we get out to of here?" Kuwabara asked.

"Oh my gods," Kurama groaned. "Were you dropped on your head?" He turned and began to walk away.

"Hey, you didn't answer-"

"Listen to me," Kurama interrupted. "With what you've already witnessed, and now that you've seen us, I believe that the possibility of you returning to your homes is doubtful."

"What!" Kurama didn't answer him. He and Sakyo scaled the stairs, leaving the three kids alone to digest what just transpired.

"Well," Keiko muttered. "This sucks. I'm stuck in a basement- with you two- and it smells in here. Think maybe there's a dead body somewhere in here?"

"Keiko," Yusuke said, having worked his gag loose with some effort. "That guy-"

"Or whatever the hell it was," Kuwabara muttered.

"-just said that we won't be leaving here, and you're complaining about how it smells? Do you really think he'll just keep us down here forever? Remember what they say? Nobody meets the Yoko and lives to talk about it."

"Come on, Urameshi, just because that tranny claims to be the Yoko doesn't mean that it's true," argued Kuwabara.

"Yeah?" Yusuke said in a strangely quiet voice. "Then what the hell's that?"

"Oh wow," the carrot-top snickered. "Hey Keiko, Urameshi actually swore, kind of." No one replied. "Keiko?" He looked over. The brunette was staring in the same direction as Yusuke, an odd look on her face. Kuwabara furrowed his brow and followed their gaze…

In the corner, under a stack of boards, lay a half-exposed woman. Or, more accurately, pieces of her- covered in dried, caked blood, buzzing with breeding insects. The expression on the woman's face was one of twisted pain, of utter terror, or pure agony.

"Hm, do you think they've realized exactly what situation they're now in?" Sakyo asked as they heard a loud shriek rise up from the basements.

"Took them long enough," Kurama scoffed. "How are the attempts on Mr. Jaganshi's partner going?"

Sakyo donned a sour expression. "Don't ask."

Suddenly someone upstairs yelled, attracting their attention. "What the-?" Karasu came down the stairs at a swift pace. "What's going on?" he demanded. Karasu merely shoved him aside and went out the front door. "Son of a bitch," Kurama growled.

"What was that about?" Sakyo inquired.

"I don't know." Kurama ran upstairs, and growled upon discovering the door to Hiei's room wide open. 'It'd better not be that Koorime again,' he thought angrily, making a note to procure that deadbolt as soon as possible. He stepped inside the room, and then stared, utterly enraged.

Hiei sat cross-legged on the bed- cool and collected as ever- his clothing torn and hanging off his frame. "Your lover, or whatever Karasu is to you, really needs to learn to keep his hands to himself," he told the Yoko, blood dripping from his teeth.


	11. Chapter XI

_Things take another interesting turn in here Hope it makes you happy._

* * *

Honestly, Hiei hadn't expected much of a reaction from the Yoko when he appeared. He anticipated a snide comment, or indifference. Instead, the redhead blew up. "What happened in here?" he growled.

Hiei shrugged. "He tried forcing himself on me," he said mildly. "So I bit him- care to guess where?"

"That son of a bitch!" the Yoko screamed furiously. He hauled off and punched the wall, leaving a decent-sized hole after pulling his fist out. "That was all?" he demanded. "He just tried to, you bit, and here we are?" Hiei nodded. "I see," he said, his voice suddenly very calm. "Well then, thank you for sharing that with me." The gangster took a deep breath, and then closed the door behind him.

The billionaire quirked an eyebrow. 'There's no way he could handle it that well,' he thought.

Kurama stood in the hallway, leaning against the wall outside Hiei's room, quaking with rage. He clenched and unclenched his fists, ongoing strings of profanity muttered under his breath.

A gangster, a friend of Karasu's whose name Kurama didn't know, strode down the hall. He noticed Kurama. "Hey, I heard Karasu scored with that little Jaganshi guy. How'd he do?"

The cross-dresser's head snapped up, hair matching the infuriated expression on his face, the burning in his eyes. The gangster raised his eyebrows, and took a cautious step back.

From the other side of the wall, Hiei listened as the Yoko beat to a living pulp the gangster. 'There, that's more like it,' he thought, shifting into a reclining position.

* * *

'He's returned,' Toguro stated.

Kurama sat up, massaging his throbbing temples. "Send him up," he growled, taking another swallow of his drink.

The giant noticed. "Kurama, perhaps you should stop drinking that."

They heard voices from downstairs. "Hey, Karasu!" someone shouted. "How was Jaganshi?"

A moment later, the raven-haired man's voice answered. "Maybe I didn't get that far with him, but it was all better than anything I've gotten from my dear Foxy in a damn long time!"

Toguro snuck a cautious glance at Kurama. His leader was hunched over; his entire body tense, one hand grasping the bottle of vodka while the other cradled his head. "Bring him here," he commanded, voice a harsh near-whisper.

This time Toguro obeyed without comment, and a few minutes later the door opened and Karasu strutted in. He noticed Kurama's current state. "You know, alcohol does nothing for your temperament or your body."

"Shut up," he hissed.

"You see what I mean?" Karasu asked superiorly.

"Perhaps I wouldn't feel the need to consume this liquid garbage if you didn't degrade me with inappropriate actions and commentary."

"Such large words, again? Don't use them, Foxy; they don't suit you."

"I'll use whatever-sized words I feel like using," he retorted. "At least I know their definitions."

"That's low, my dear."

"Not as low as you. Not only do you sleep with every other gangster who happens upon you midst, now you feel the need to turn to my hostage also?"

"Only the women," Karasu corrected him. "And you know what they say about Koorime; I was curious as to if it was true."

"Well?"

"Not in this case. Your Mr. Jaganshi is precisely that- all Mister, no Madam. Like you," he added off-handedly. "When I discovered that, I immediately lost interest. He still bit me, though." He shuddered. "But don't worry, no damage was done."

"Worry?" Kurama asked coldly. "I was hoping that he bit the damn thing off." Karasu glowered. "You lost interest when you discovered he possessed nothing feminine. Have you no interest in me anymore?"

"You dress in a womanly fashion," Karasu said.

"But?"

"I've told you all of this before." He sat down on the bed, across from Kurama. "You're beautiful enough, but you're still just a man."

Kurama bristled. "You knew my gender before ever pursuing me."

"I repulsed you, so I liked the challenge; you resisted me, and that made the challenge all the sweeter."

"And there were other assets that attracted you," Kurama added bluntly.

Karasu shrugged. "Yes."

The redhead pursed his lips. "Money, power- perhaps I'd be less reluctant to share if you didn't humiliate me so."

"Want to know what you could do to prevent that?"

"Don't, Karasu."

Karasu ignored his request, and pushed Kurama onto his back. "You could eliminate the competition down here," he said, running a hand over the juncture of the cross-dresser's legs. "And you could install some huge, firm jugs for me to squeeze up here." He moved a hand to Kurama's flat chest.

The redhead pushed Karasu off of him. "No, I've already told you that."

"But you'd look nice stacked," Karasu protested. "I wouldn't let you out of bed at all."

"Would you achieve that with shackles, or with something else? No."

"Fine!" he snapped. "Be a faggot for all I care, Suichi," he added in a higher pitch.

"Don't 'Suichi' me," Kurama spat, eyes angry slits. "Get out."

"What? Excuse me?"

"You heard me; get out."

"You're drunk," Karasu sneered.

"Damn straight."

"Funny, you're not. And I'm not leaving."

Kurama growled, and smashed the vodka bottle, sending liquid and broken glass everywhere. "Out," he said, pointing the jagged, broken end of the bottle at Karasu. "Before I finish what Jaganshi started."

He spoke in a dead serious tone; Karasu's composure wavered slightly. "Fine," he growled. "I'll leave. You'll regret it later."

"What's one more matter of regret to me?" Kurama shot back, throwing the remainder of the bottle at the door as Karasu left.


	12. Chapter XII

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed

Chapter 12

June 3, 2005

"Mr. Sakyo, you have a visitor."

"Go ahead and let them in," the businessman said. He sipped his drink. "Would you care for anything?"

Yukina shook her head. "No, thank you."

Sakyo nodded, absently glancing at a mirror mounted on the den wall. The looking glass reflected the hall, and currently depicted his approaching visitor. "Yukina, go into my bedroom. Lock the door."

"What?"

"Go."

Sakyo's tone was normal, but something about the way he spoke… "Okay," she said, quickly obeying his request.

Sakyo watched her leave, and then swiveled in his chair to greet the caller. "Karasu, I thought Kurama expelled you from the Youkai."

"He did," Karasu said crisply. "But never fear; that mistake shall soon be fixed."

"Do I even want to know?"

"The reign of the Yoko as leader of the Youkai draws to an end; the reign of Karasu is just beginning."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're going to declare anarchy on the co-founder of the Youkai? That sounds rather suicidal."

"Not really. Over my time served as a Youkai I've established strong ties with a majority of my fellow gangsters, and through much persuasion managed to influence Kurama into accepting many of my more personal associates into his group. True, there may be a clash of loyalties among the Youkai at first, but Kurama lost his grip on power some time ago- my victory is practically guaranteed, with the support of my allies."

"I see," Sakyo said aloofly. "And am I one of those said allies?"

"Naturally."

"And how do you propose we dethrone the Yoko?"

"I don't aim to spill his blood; at least, not yet. Kurama has money, and I plan to arrange it so that when he does- shall we say, ascend into his next life? - that money goes to me."

"You mean through something like marriage? I regret telling you that this specific country has yet to legalize the union you're proposing."

"Not if one of us becomes a woman in the flesh. I've found a doctor who, after my persuasion, won't ask too many questions." He smirked. "And when my new bride unexpectedly expires during the honeymoon, her death certificate shall state that she died of arising complications from the surgery. Gender reassignment can be a fatal affair, you know."

"And when this female Kurama dies, you as husband inherit her money," Sakyo finished.

"Precisely."

"Kurama will never submit to that."

"So I've discovered. But that's what drugs are for, Sakyo. He won't have a say in the matter."

"Uh-huh."

"I plan to strike as soon as possible. When can you join me?"

"Never."

Karasu snapped his head about and stared at him. "What?"

"I allied with Kurama because of his willingness to assist me in the Jaganshi affair. So far, the only 'contribution' you yourself have made to my interests is your attempted rape of Mr. Jaganshi. Thus, I feel inclined to stand by Kurama- does he even know of any of these intentions?"

"Element of surprise," Karasu replied frigidly, inconspicuously reaching within his coat.

"I see. Well, it would appear that you've made the mistake of assuming; you can be sure that Kurama will not be caught as off guard as you planned." Sakyo rose from his chair.

Almost immediately, a hand wrapped around his throat and pulled him back. "I see that you misunderstand, Mr. Sakyo," Karasu hissed. "You see, I will not lose my element of surprise." He held a gun to Sakyo's temple.

'And this is what happens when you mingle with overly-ambitious gangsters,' he thought. 'Oh well.' "Do what you will, Karasu," Sakyo said nonchalantly, though he knew what was about to transpire. "I'm sure that by the time you arrive, Kurama will be expecting-"

Bang.


	13. Chapter XIII

_Well, things are shaking up- again- and you get to learn a little bit more about one of the characters. Enjoy._

* * *

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 13  
July 20, 2005

"It sounds as though things have died down up there."

"Eye of the storm, Bui," Toguro warned.

"Perhaps he passed out. Should one of us check on Jaganshi?"

"I doubt anybody else has, what with the way they ran for cover. Cowards. Knock yourself out."

"What do you think they're talking about?" Kuwabara muttered. Keiko shrugged, Yusuke didn't even answer.

It'd been odd. Earlier they'd heard a great calamity above their heads, some sort of frenzy- crashes and the steady tattoo of footsteps. An exodus from the house. What'd gone down, they didn't know.

Bui unlocked the door to Hiei's room, went inside. Almost immediately, he was knocked to the ground with great force. "What the-!" Bui was cut off as something was wrapped around his throat and tightened.

"Who the hell are you?" Hiei growled. "And what's going on?" Bui made a choking sound. He heaved a sigh of annoyance and loosened the piece of broken tether.

"My name is Bui," the gangster rasped. "I came to make sure the Yoko hadn't harmed you in place of Karasu. It sounded too quiet." Bui observed the billionaire. His clothing so torn from Karasu's advances that it hung from his frame in strips, he reminded Bui of the provocative focal point of some visual work of erotica. Torn length of rope hung from his limbs, he must have broken his bindings.

Hiei glowered at him, the expression in his eyes as lethal as that one, in their final moments, might see in Karasu's or the Yoko's. Or Toguro's, Bui mused, if he ever removed his sunglasses. "Are you going to kill me now?" he asked.

The length about his throat tightened even more, but then it loosened. "No," Hiei said, standing up. He stepped out into the hall. "It's empty."

"Yeah," Bui said, rising and massaging his throat. "A lot of them work for the Yoko in name only; Karasu's their true master. He's been expelled from this house, from this gang. They're too frightened to remain here."

"Where is the Yoko?"

"I don't know. Perhaps in his room."

"And that'd be?" 'I could have killed you,' Hiei thought irritably.

"The master bedroom, largest in the house. Right next to yours." The billionaire blinked. "You didn't know? One can hear his and Karasu's disputes from downstairs even."

"Hn." Then who'd been crying on the other side of the wall? Bui hadn't moved. "What do you want?"

"You could have killed me," Bui said.

'Don't make me regret it.' "So? If you want to repay me or something, leave me alone. Go away." His tone was blunt, but he didn't want this odd gangster following him around like a puppy.

Bui studied him a moment. "Alright," he said at last. "But be cautious. He's much more vicious than his appearance gives him credit for."

The billionaire shrugged, and waited until Bui had left. 'Odd one,' he thought. Now that he thought about it, he recalled seeing this Bui before, the few times he'd been out of his room. Always with Toguro when Hiei saw him, always silent. He'd overlooked him until now.

Hiei tried the door Bui had pointed out. It was already slightly ajar; he pushed it open further.

The room was cluttered, to say the least. Boxes and crates were stacked four, even five high against the walls. Hiei could only guess what they contained. The floor was hardwood, adorned with Oriental rugs. The furnishings were in fine taste- mahogany wood, silk and velvet upholstery. It rivaled the décor in Hiei's own home at Makai Estates.

Sprawled out on the king-sized canopy bed, out cold, lay the Yoko. Hiei quirked an eyebrow. He approached the bed, and then slipped, landing on the mattress. He looked behind him; an empty liquor bottle rolled out form under his foot. Karasu's vice; or the Yoko's? He supposed the unconscious redhead was answer enough.

The cross-dresser rolled over in his sleep, mumbling. 'You're not so dignified now,' Hiei thought, though he didn't feel at all triumphant. In fact, despite himself, he felt a little sorry for the Yoko.

Hiei suddenly felt the impulse to touch him. He acted on it, running a hand over his gaunt face. Despite the taunting he'd heard from Karasu that first night he'd spent in the Yoko's house, the redhead was quite the opposite from fat- he supposed he could go so far to say that the Yoko was emaciated. Did he ever eat, or was the drink his only nutrition? The skin was sallow, perhaps due to the consumption of excessive alcohol, but still not unpleasant to look at. He wagered it must have been flawless when the Yoko was younger.

The hair, too; he had to touch the hair. It was so soft, and silky, like the sheets the gangster slept atop. Hiei found himself admiring the vibrant coloring, though upon further inspection he did find strands of silver strewn in here and there. It surprised him; the Yoko looked too young to already have silvering hair. He wondered just how old this man, or whatever he identified himself as, really was.

A hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, twisting it. Before he cold stop himself, Hiei uttered a cry of pain. "What are you doing?" the Yoko demanded coldly. "You're not even supposed to be in here."

Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Your tethers weren't strong enough, I guess." He caught a whiff of the Yoko's breath. Vodka. "You're drunk."

"How kind of you to notice," he sneered, sitting up. "If you managed to get in here, then I assume the house is deserted?"

"It appeared that way." The redhead growled a string of profanities. "Aren't you supposed to be in charge around here?"

"Shut up!" he snarled. Pushing Hiei aside, he got to his feet and walked (rather unsteadily) to thewardrobe. "I suppose you'll want new garments that _aren't_ little shreds of nothing?"

"What do you plan to do with me?" Hiei demanded.

"Excuse me? Nothing's changed."

"You forget that your house is empty."

"Good!" the Yoko retorted. "I like it that way. I don't need it being trashed by all of Karasu's minions. Hell, I don't need him, either. Alone or with company, I still run downtown. Besides, you forget that my partner in your fate is Sakyo, not Karasu. Like I said, nothing's changed." He burrowed about in the armour, and tossed Hiei a new change of clothes. "I've no idea if those are the correct size, or do I care. Take them or leave them." Hiei caught the clothes, and just stood there, unsure of what to do. "Well, don't just stand there!" he barked.

He scowled. "I'm not changing in front of you!"

The Yoko smirked. "Sweetie," he crooned, his tone so faux-sugary it was toxic, "whether you get naked or not, you're pretty much exposed already." He turned around to the vanity, began brushing the tangles of sleep from his hair. At an offhand glance in the mirror, he saw that his captive had gone ahead and begun changing. He let his eyes slide down to the reflection's crotch. Green eyes widened. 'Karasu has nothing on this guy,' he thought, quickly averting his eyes before he was caught and accused of staring.

Hiei tightened the belt as well as he could, and then looked at his reflection in the vanity mirror. He frowned.

"You look like a small child playing dress-up," the Yoko chuckled. Hiei glared, rolling up the sleeves of his new shirt so that his hands were actually visible. "Careful now, don't trip over the pant legs or anything. It must suck for you, huh? I hear that all the Koorime are rather petite…. Good thing you have all that money, eh? The ladies might not be so interested other wise."

He earned a glare. "How do you know I'm a Koorime?" Hiei demanded. "And you saw for yourself that I'm not so petite everywhere," he added accusingly.

The transvestite attempted to conceal a guilty smile, failing. "I gathered you might be Koorime because one of Makai Enterprise's attributes is their monopoly of the Hiruseki stones. I know that this monopoly did not always exist. I thought that perhaps if one of the Enterprise members were Koorime it would make obtaining that monopoly much easier. Now that I've seen you, I know that you have to be. They say that only Koorime have those dark red eyes." He paused. "Or perhaps you're only part," he mused. "Your coloring's rather dark- in the pictures I've seen of Koorime, they're all fair." The redhead raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "You know, now that I think about it, the Koorime in the pictures all appeared to be women, too- are the rumors about them true?"

"Maybe they all just have your taste in clothing," Hiei shot back jokingly, forgetting for the moment that he was a prisoner and that the Yoko was his captor, a gangster who'd undoubtedly killed numerous people in the past and just as easily kill him anytime now. "What rumors?"

"Oh, that the Koorime are all female, stuff like that." He shrugged. "Though I suppose that can't be true, huh?"

"Yes and no," he replied quietly.

"What?" He opened up one drawer after another in the dresser, pulling out several pieces of clothing. He began to undress. "Don't be a prude," he lectured, noticing Hiei's reaction. "It's nothing you haven't seen before, I'm sure." The Yoko stacked up the clean clothes. "Come here." Hiei hesitated. "Come here," he said impatiently. Hiei did, not letting his gaze slip from the Yoko's face. The gangster opened a door, revealing a bathroom adjoined to the master bedroom. "Stand here," he ordered. "I'll leave the door partially open."

The billionaire heard bathwater running, and then the sound of the redhead submerging himself. "Well?" the Yoko asked. "Go on. What do you mean, Yes and no?"

His tone was no longer arrogant, it sounded genuinely intrigued. "The Koorime live in a remote region in the mountains," Hiei began. "The population's relatively isolated, and so over time most families have interbred."

"Incest?" guess the Yoko.

Hiei furrowed his brow. "I suppose you could say that," he said slowly. "But generally not between siblings. But anyway, yes, I suppose that over time and due to the lack of new genes coming in, given the isolation of the Koorime, the DNA of most grow pretty similar. As the result of this recurring incest, the majority of the offspring were female."

"So did the men practice polygamy or something? How did the Koorime population remain steady?"

"I was getting to that. For some reason- I myself have tried researching the source but have never turned up much of anything- in addition to the baby girls born, some were also… neither gender. Or both. Take your pick."

"Hermaphrodites?"

"Yes. Generally they were women with male genitalia. Which brings me now to your question regarding the Koorime population? These Koorime hermaphrodites could not bear children- I think that perhaps they didn't have all the necessary female organs, but I don't know for sure- but they could fertilize the egg of an able Koorime woman."

"So, chicks with dicks took the place of actual men as fathers of the Koorime," the Yoko said crudely, sounding amused.

Hiei nodded, though he knew the Yoko couldn't see him. "As I said, actual sons were a rarity, but these hermaphrodite daughters made up for it."

"A world without men. It must be a female paradise."

"Hn. Have you a place in that paradise too, then?" Again he heard that sweet melodic laughter, and had to remind himself that it came from a kidnapper and a killer. "Of course, this alleged paradise is situated in the ice and snow and freezing cold- and let's not mention the mines…. Anyhow, it's not like the Koorime never came in contact with men. Though their location is remote, the Koorime do get visits from outsiders.

"It was outsiders who come and told the Koorime that thought they'd lived on that land, cold and barren and forsaken as it is, for so long that no one could recall a time when the Koorime had lived else where, the land was not theirs. It was the outsiders who came and tore up the landscape and made it uglier than they already were in search of metals and minerals. And when they discovered the Hiruseki stones, gems that the Koorime revered, that were almost sacred to them in a way, the outsiders told the Koorime that they would mine the stones for export to the rest of the world.

"But did the Koorime receive any of the income for their labor? Of course not. No, it was the outsiders who profited while the Koorime were treated as slaves, animals."

"Like the Natives were treated when the 'righteous, moral' Europeans journeyed to the New World and discovered the gold and such. Or the similar way that the Africans were exploited."

"Precisely," Hiei replied bitterly.

"And did the outsiders exploit the Koorime in… other ways?"

"Yes," he answered. "The men from the outside world were greedy in many ways. The Koorime came to despise men, as battered women sometimes do, and over time it became some sort of unspoken rule that a Koorime kill herself rather than allow an outsider to defile her."

"Kind of like Lucretia…" the Yoko mused, remembering the tragic Greek heroine. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your complexion's too dark to be pure Koorime. Is there an outsider businessman or someone of that sort of ilk somewhere out there whom you call 'Daddy'?"

Hiei bristled. "Not all the outsiders came to the Koorime villages to satisfy their greed. A small few came in the pursuit of knowledge- to document the history and culture of the Koorime, though I don't think they normally churned up much. By now the Koorime had grown so distrustful of any outsider, the ones who did so little as to simply offer a meager interview were often shunned."

"You didn't answer my question. Were you fathered by a Koorime hermaphrodite or a man from the outside?"

The billionaire furrowed his brow. "I would like to thing that it was a documenter that she had an affair with. Or that if it was a corporate outsider, that she was raped- I know that must sound awful, to want that to happen to someone-"

"I understand," the Yoko said. "Go on."

"Anyways, at my birth, they took one look at me and knew I wasn't pure Koorime. My mother was shunned, viewed by most as a traitor, by all as an adulterer."

"Come again?"

"I guess she was in a relationship with another Koorime, the father of her other child, my twin sister. It's possible for twins to be fathered by different men, of in this case, man and hermaphrodite. My mother must have produced a second egg after the first was fertilized- an occurrence that is rare, but not unheard of. My mother's mate took my twin sister to raise, while my mother was shunned. I too was cast out, my mere existence viewed as a symbol of my mother's treason. I think, though I was very young at the time, that we lived on the outskirts of one of the villages, in makeshift housing. The other Koorime would tolerate her while at work in the mines, as most were basically forced to do so, but socially speaking she was dead to the mass.

"And she did die, just a couple of years after my birth." He paused a moment. "I really don't remember too much of her, aside from the name she gave me and the name of the sister I occasionally caught a glimpse of, Yukina."

He paused, allowing the Yoko a chance to comment. For a moment he didn't even hear any movement of water. Then, "So she died when you were barely older than a toddler. How'd you manage to survive?"

"I received some pity from friends of my mother. Though they were angry with her alleged betrayal, they did feel grief when she passed on. They would give me bits of food and clothing, though I think it was more out of guilt over her than care for me. As I grew older I learned how to hunt the sparse game and prepare my food and sew my own clothes from the fragments of cloth discarded by the village Koorime. I think they knew that, because the clothing I would retrieve from the refuse heap was always dark, but the Koorime always donned light colors."

His face clouded. "My clothes were primarily black. I think they planned it that way. Black like my hair; black to make me stand out; black like some bad omen. A constant reminder that I was an outcast, unwanted."

When he heard no comment from the Yoko, he continued. "One day a plane landed near our village, bearing wealthy outsiders, as the planes often did. But there was something odd about these outsiders. All the other ones feared them, but the very strange part was that at first glance they did not seem so frightening. One of the two was veiled head to toe at all times, and never spoke. The other was a blind man.

"I do not know how they first came to know of me, or why they first approached me, but one morning I awoke to discover these two at the door of my shack. They wished to speak with me, said a man accompanying them- I would later come to know him as Shigure- your gangsters killed him the night you ordered them to ambush my limousine." He narrowed his eyes, forgetting that the Yoko could not see him, and did not bother to disguise his anger. "He was armed, and so were they, even the blind one; I thought it best to heed to their wishes. After all, what had I to lose by talking to them? I was already condemned by the Koorime just for drawing breath.

"They took me back to their plane- no, it was a jet, I remember. When I stepped inside, I felt warm for the very first time in my life."

He heard water splashing, the tub draining. The Yoko emerged, wearing a green bathrobe. "Continue," he said. "I can dress and listen at the same time."

Hiei blinked, and then looked away as the other removed his robe. "They asked me my name, I gave it to them. They then told me theirs. The veiled one was Mukuro, the blind man Yomi."

The Yoko dropped his boot. Hiei ignored him and continued.

"I spent all day with them, and all of that night. We just talked for the most part- well, by we, I mean Mukuro and I. Yomi would come and go; he appeared to be busy with something. There were times when Mukuro too disappeared, but only for a bit. Any idiot could see that they were conspiring.

"We all soon learned just what they were conspiring. These two were rich, very rich. I think there were wealthier than all the other outsiders who invaded our village put together. And they were more hostile than the others- but not toward the Koorime; the other outsiders.

"These two, they were very blunt. They wanted control of the Hiruseki mines, and they didn't want to share with anybody else. I recall there was a gargantuan dispute, though that may be too friendly a word, between them and the other outsiders. People were killed. But looking back on it, I'm not so surprised. They shared a common slogan: do anything to seize power, do anything to maintain it. I think Machiavelli was something of an idol to them."

"To them, and most other people with power," the Yoko said. "What? I can read, you know. I read _The Prince_ when I was in elementary school."

Hiei tried picturing the Yoko as a student. An image of the redhead in a schoolgirl's uniform came to him. "Uh, right. Anyways, this power war of theirs raged on for some time, over a year at least. And over that time, I grew to know Mukuro quite well."

His audience snorted. "This mogul took an interest in you? Figures."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," he replied, shrugging.

The billionaire quirked an eyebrow. "Anyway, one day Mukuro came to my home, saying that I was to be tested. I had no idea what this test might be; I was only twelve, I think, and every wild thought my imagination could churn out raced through my mind."

He paused again, as though reminiscing. "On every occasion that we conversed, the 'mogul' as you put it was always hidden beneath a veil. This time though, the veil came off."

The Yoko began chuckling. "It wasn't like that!" Hiei growled.

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say. Sure, most corporate slime bags fly to Thailand or wherever when they want sex with young foreign boys. I guess Mukuro didn't like conformity, huh?"

"Shut up! We never-"

"Okay!" The Yoko threw up his arms as though in defense. "Alright, Mukuro wasn't some pervert out for young boy flesh. If you say so."

There was something about the cross dresser's grin Hiei didn't like. "Mukuro was a woman," he stated flatly. "I'd never guessed; before her, no women came to us from the outside. I was startled. To me back then, Mukuro was the strangest-looking creature I'd ever laid eyes on. She wasn't entirely… real."

"Well, in this day in age, a lot of people are fake. Botox, lypo, implants…."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, about half of her body was mechanical, prosthetics. Even part of her face. She did it to herself, she told me, to escape a fatherly love that was more physical than it should have been. It must take a lot of will, or desperation, to do that to one's own body, to intentionally make it that way, an odd combination of flesh and metal. I suppose most people would show fear or disgust to such a revelation. But I didn't. I mean, yes, I was startled- but I'd come to know Mukuro, so it didn't matter so much. In truth, I was more shocked to discover she was female than that she was a cyborg.

"She asked me what I thought of her now, and I told her basically what I just told you. And she told me that that was the test, to see my reaction. And I passed.

"We shared similarities, her and me. Our childhoods were hell, and though she had a companion in Yomi, we were both lonely. She confessed to me that it was her with that when she and Yomi and their, ah, employees, returned to the outside world, I'd go with them."

"And you did."

He nodded. "I don't think I'd have lasted too long had I remained there. Mukuro and Yomi eventually won the battle over possession of the Hiruseki stones, but that didn't prevent other outsiders from coming in pursuit of other goods. I didn't trust them.

"Mukuro saw to it that I received a proper education. I read a lot, though I didn't particularly care for reading. This was how I found my name. I was reading up on the evil eye, the Jagan. The different signs made to ward off the evil eye reminded me of the signs used by the Koorime against me."

"Your company logo is the evil eye," said the Yoko.

Hiei shrugged. "They needed a logo; Mukuro let me design it. She made me her heir, her representative. By now the company had expanded. Whenever there was a meeting or an appearance, I accompanied Yomi in her place. I don't know just why, whether it was personal because she didn't want her disfigurement to be seen by strangers, or practical because she thought no one would question the Hiruseki monopoly if they saw me, an actual Koorime. As time went by Mukuro herself was generally forgotten by outsiders in the business world; they all though I was Yomi's partner."

At this the Yoko raised his eyebrows. "What? You're not Yo- not his partner?" 'Was there no point to abducting him?' the redhead thought. If he couldn't sign those papers Sakyo had….

"I am now, officially. Mukuro died a little over a year ago."

"I sense bitterness," the Yoko said, checking his reflection in the mirror.

I didn't know she was sick. Yomi didn't know. She didn't tell anybody. We didn't find out until after…."

"Hm," the Yoko commented. He appeared thoughtful, in Hiei's opinion. "Oh, what the hell!" the gangster shouted angrily when the door to his bedroom burst open. "Ever heard of knocking!" he exclaimed to Toguro.

Toguro didn't apologize, but instead shoved the Koorime girl Hiei recognized from before into the room. "She has something to tell you, Kurama," the giant said grimly.

The redhead groaned. "Sakyo's not backing out now, is he?"

"Sakyo's dead," she said quietly.

He blinked. "What?"

"Karasu killed him."

Now the cross dresser let out an infuriated roar. "And you stood by and allowed it!"

"I wasn't armed!" she protested. "I've never had to be armed in Sakyo's home!"

"Why the hell not!" he demanded. "Never mind. Sakyo's dead. Brilliant, that was probably the last thing I needed right now. Where's Karasu? I'm gonna shove a knife up his ass!"

"He's coming here," she told him. "I don't know how long it'll take him to arrive. I ran out of the house right after he shot Sakyo. He's plotting against you."

The lead gangster snorted. "He's always been plotting against me," he scoffed.

"No, Kurama, you don't understand…."

She proceeded to tell the Yoko the plan she'd heard Karasu elaborate to Sakyo. Hiei widened his eyes as he listened; he hadn't realized just how insane Karasu was.

The Yoko merely smirked and shrugged it off. "Leave it to Karasu to devise a crazy half-assed scheme like that," he declared. "Well, I tire of him. This, on top of everything else- he's too much of a hindrance anymore. I should have dealt with him a long time ago."

"You've finally come to your senses," Toguro observed. "But let me handle him."

"You always make that offer, and again I refuse."

"I had him first," he pressed firmly.

"And if he wanted to pull some forced sex change-marriage-murder-right-out-of-a-soap-opera number on _you_, you'd have my permission to do as you would with him. But he's interested in me, so you stay out of it." He spoke cordially enough, but the look on his face clearly told Toguro to step off.

"What are you doing!" Hiei surprised himself by exclaiming as the Yoko began applying make-up.

"Giving Karasu something pretty to look at while I kick his ass," he replied vaguely.

"You already are," Toguro tried.

"You're not doing it." He set down the eyeliner pencil and stared Toguro in the eye. "You're going to take Yukina-"

Hiei blinked. Yukina? He stared at the Koorime assassin.

"- and your brother, and Bui, and run for it."

"What?" the giant snapped, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Yukina saw Karasu kill Sakyo- she could be a target herself now. And though she's probably quite capable of defending herself, the _chivalrous_ thing to do would be to accompany her and make sure she's safe."

Everybody heard a sudden explosion downstairs and jumped. "It seems Karasu has found some new toys," the Yoko muttered. He narrowed his eyes at Toguro. "Go," he ordered. Toguro glared; the redhead glared back. This glaring match persisted for a few seconds, and then Toguro turned away, defeated.

"Just don't let him kill you," he muttered, gesturing to Yukina.

He rolled his eyes. "It'll take more than Karasu to kill me, rest assured. Take the fire escape," he called after them. "I think he blew up the front door." He walked toward the closet, and then stopped mid-step. "Shit!" he said. He'd forgotten about the kids in the basement. He ran back to the hallway, ignoring the crashes from downstairs, but Toguro was gone. 'Damn it, he finally decides to listen….'

Hiei watched the Yoko run to the closet, then back to the hallway, then back to the closet again. The alcohol was still in his system, the Koorime wagered, as he appeared to have trouble maintaining his balance. "Should you be handling those?" he asked, seeing him sorting through a stock of weapons in the back of the closet.

"Excuse me?" was the irritable response.

"Perhaps I could help…?"

The Yoko snickered. "Right. You're my captive, and I'm going to let you around my weapons. That's funny. How stupid do you think I am?" He gritted his teeth. "Where the hell are my bullets!" He got up, grasping one of the larger guns by the barrel. "Why can't I find anything around here?" he grumbled. "Damn you, Karasu."

"Damn me, say you?" a familiar voice inquired. Hiei and the Yoko both looked at the doorway, their gaze resting on Karasu, and the gun he had fixed on the other gangster. "I told you drinking was bad for you, Foxy; why, look at you now- you didn't even notice me come up."


	14. Chapter XIV

_It would be unfair to give the history of one of the main characters without divulging a tale from the other, now wouldn't it? Read on._

* * *

"Mr. Yomi, we're doing all we can to locate the whereabouts of Mr. Jaganshi-"

"If you were doing all you could you'd search downtown!" snarled Yomi, seething with such ferocity that Detective Botan began cowering.

"I'm sorry, Sir," Detective Koenma stammered. "But downtown is, uh, out of our jurisdiction..."

Yomi grabbed the detective by his shirt collar and lifted him up. "Did you know that when a person lies, their pulse quickens?" he hissed. Koenma began to sweat.

"Please," he tried, "Mr. Yomi, we don't even know if Mr. Jaganshi is in downtown-"

"I know something you could do to remedy that," Yomi scoffed.

"- And we also have to worry about the abduction of our witnesses-"

"Who may well be in downtown also! I tell you, 'Detective', the circumstances of this entire affair can be linked to the Youkai- and I'm sure everyone here has an idea of their work. You've no business standing around here doing nothing!"

"Mr. Yomi!" barked the Lieutenant (Botan and Koenma cowered at the sound of his voice- 'What an ogre!' they both thought). "Harassing my detectives won't recover your business partner any quicker. I'll have you know that we haven't searched downtown yet because there's been no suspicious activity-"

"Shush!" Yomi barked, listening to the television in the nearby coffee room. The news was on; he recognized the voice of the reporter, a young lady named Koto.

"Here behind me stands the renowned Minamino house, now thought to be headquarters of the notorious Youkai gang. Inside the house right now there is said to be a clash between two high-ranking gangsters including, as rumors have it, the legendary 'Yoko'- a criminal that is supposedly so cruel and blood-thirsty- Oh, wait a minute, it appears that some men outside the Minamino house are looking at us... and now they're coming this way... and they're pulling out weapons... Quick, Jiri! Save the camera!"

"Yeah," said one of the cops. "I heard that one of those gangsters was setting off explosives."

Yomi gripped the lieutenant's shoulder, so hard he felt something crack. "Well then," he said, smiling coldly and wishing he could see the expression on the other man's face. "I believe _that_ is perhaps a little out of the ordinary, eh Lieutenant?"

"Well now, Foxy," Karasu said coolly. "I suppose you never listened in your school health classes when they said that alcohol is a drug that slows the reflexes."

"Gee, Karasu, how did the D.A.R.E. program ever let you get away?" the Yoko sneered.

Karasu narrowed his eyes and yanked on the rope, smirking when he heard the redhead draw a breath. "You may want to suck it in," he said briskly. "I like tying my ropes _tight_." He grabbed the Yoko's jaw and forced his face upward so that instead of the floor he gazed upon his own reflection in the vanity. "Take a good look at your male self," he said smugly, running a hand over the bound gangster's flat chest. "For I assure you, if I can help it, this area will be _much_ bigger next time you look in the mirror."

He turned the Yoko's chair around so that he faced Hiei, whom Karasu had bound in a similar fashion. "Now sit tight, both of you. I have to tend to a few nuisances outside, and have the car brought around. And then you," he stroked the Yoko's hair, "and I shall go on a little trip."

"Go to hell!" the Yoko shouted after Karasu.

"You first, _Suichi_," Karasu shot back in a high-pitched voice as he shut them in.

Hiei rolled his eyes. "Perhaps you're not in the best situation to be hurling insults at him."

"Shut up!" He craned his neck around, and then began shifting his chair backwards and sideways.

"Who's Suichi?" Hiei asked.

"What?" growled the Yoko, shifting his weight in the chair to better propel it.

"I've heard him call you Suichi before, several times. Is that your real name or something?"

"No!" he snapped.

"Then why does he call you that?"

"I don't know," the Yoko sneered. "Why does he call me 'Foxy'?"

"Well, why does he?"

"Shut up," he grumbled.

"I told you about me," Hiei taunted, a little amused by the redhead's aggravation. "Why should you get to stay enigmatic?" The Yoko glowered at him. "So, who's Suichi?"

"_Suichi _is dead," the gangster replied shortly.

Hiei blinked. "Did you kill him?"

This question earned a shrug. "Possibly."

"Possibly? You don't know?" He noticed that by now the Yoko had edged the back of his chair by a small trash can. He watched his hands struggle against the ropes, fishing into the trash, grasping hold of half a broken vodka bottle.

"Where people like Suichi are concerned, it is very difficult to determine just who and/or what destroys them." The Yoko's fingers worked along the bottle's broken part, pressing against the jagged pieces. Hiei flinched as he saw the glass tear the flesh and blood began to drip down the bottle's sides. "It could be a number of people or things, really. Insensitivity, lack of acceptance, hatred, betrayal by a family member, alienation, et cetera..." A chunk of glass finally gave under the pressure, separating from the rest of the bottle. The Yoko's hands seemed to fold against themselves as he began to saw through the ropes binding his wrists with the glass.

"Somebody in Suichi's family betrayed him?" Hiei asked. "Hated him?"

"Yes," said the Yoko through clenched teeth, wincing as the glass sawed through and cut into his skin. "Suichi was a stupid boy who believed the best in everybody and everything. And it backfired against him." He grunted as he worked his arms up from under the ropes against his torso. "He lived in this house, you know."

Hiei furrowed his brow. "And you took it from him when he died." 'Or when you killed him,' he added mentally.

"It would depend on how you look at it; however, Suichi only_ lived_ in this house, he did not own it. The one this house belonged to died after he did. And I 'took' this house from no one."

"How did you know Suichi? Was he a gangster too?"

The Yoko snickered at him. "Suichi, a gangster? No, Suichi was a good boy who liked school and science and flowers."

He noticed that the Yoko used the term "boy" rather than "man." "Did he die young?"

"Yep," the Yoko grunted, heaving a sigh as he freed one arm from his restraints. "Barely an adult when the world quit spinning and he fell flat on his face." His tone was that of bitter amusement.

"But you spoke as though he were pushed."

"He was. He was pushed and couldn't catch his balance."

"Who pushed him?"

"I told you," the Yoko said, annoyed. "It's hard to concentrate on any one cause, be it a person or a thing."

Hiei did some quick thinking, wanting to learn more about Suichi. "Just who was Suichi?" he asked.

"Karasu could come back anytime," the Yoko said testily. "You aren't worried enough to not ask tedious questions?"

"You didn't plan to kill me, why would he?"

"_He_ has nothing to gain from you dead or alive," hissed the Yoko. "He doesn't want your company like Sakyo did."

"Oh yeah," Hiei said suddenly. "Sakyo wanted Makai Enterprise, but how were you going to benefit?"

"Are you even listening to me!" the redhead snarled.

"Yes, but if you truly thought Karasu was a threat, then why would you take the time to answer all my questions?" The Yoko glowered. "What kind of life did Suichi lead?"

Green eyes rolled in irritation, an annoyed sigh was heaved. "Not all of downtown was originally a part of _downtown,_ if you understand my meaning. This neighborhood and the surrounding area was part of an area once known as the Makai District- ah, your Yomi and Mukuro grew up in said District"- Hiei blinked at this information, wondering how the Yoko knew that- "... Though I believe that if you look on a map," the Yoko continued thoughtfully,"this area is still referred to under that name."

Hiei recalled seeing such a map before. The city was divided into three areas- the upper- and middle-class homes and businesses belonged to the Reikai District, some of the urban aristocratic grandeur mixing with the suburbs of the Ningenkai District, while the less refined parts of town fit into the Makai District. "Many years ago, when Suichi Minamino lived still, the neighborhood lay on the borderline between the Districts Makai and Ningenkai, though nowadays that border has shifted considerably and this house is now nowhere near it. This neighborhood, though it resided in the Makai District, was rather classy and populated by people who, speaking stereotypically, probably belonged in the suburbs of the Ningenkai District or uptown in the Reikai District, but could not afford property in either area. Despite that hindrance, the people in this neighborhood pursued the lifestyle lived by the 'upper-class,' I'm sure you can imagine what I mean- 'fine living' and that sort of thing. However, there was one thing that the ones these people imitated had that, save Reikai or Ningenkai property, they could never attain: gardens. The homes in the other Districts generally had lush, maintained gardens. The Makai District can barely sustain common grass.

"And so all the yards in the neighborhood went without vegetative adornment, except for one. Would you care to guess which?"

"Suichi liked flowers."

"Yes." The Yoko had by now freed his other arm and was at work cutting the ropes that bound his body to the chair back. "Suichi lived in the Minamino house, this house, with his mother, Shiori. Suichi had a vivid green thumb, and the yard and house was graced with the perfume of roses, jasmine, lilies, honeysuckle, wisteria, irises, and many other pleasant-smelling flora. He tended to a kitchen garden of herbs and vegetables for Shiori. He oversaw the growth of berry bushes and even a few petite trees. He did all of this to please himself and Shiori, who wanted so much to buy a home outside of the Makai District. She had a nest egg, to which she added spare money monthly, money set aside to one day make this dream of hers a reality. Perhaps she would have reached this goal much sooner, except she spent a lot of money so that Suichi could attend an exclusive private school in the Reikai District. For you see, Suichi was very intelligent, a prodigy, and the school's administrators practically got down on their hands and knees to beg that he attend, even giving him a bit of a scholarship.

"And Shiori was more than happy to spend every cent necessary so that her son could attend a school worthy of her son's gifts. She wanted Suichi to receive the best education possible, and from there pursue a distinguished career, and then to marry a nice responsible girl and raise the heirs to the Minamino bloodline in one of the 'better' parts of town.

"Of course, this devotion was not one-sided by any means. Anyone who knew the Minamino family said that theirs was the ideal mother-son relationship. Suichi worked hard at school, achieving top marks in all of his classes. When he turned sixteen he began to work part-time in a convenience store downtown, contributing the majority of his earnings to Shiori's nest egg. By this time the gangsters began to emerge from the deeper parts of the District, and the convenience store was the target of petty robbery, but never on his shift. Despite his mother's pleas, Suichi continued to work at the store."

"The gangsters hit Suichi's shift," Hiei guessed. "They killed him."

The Yoko narrowed his eyes. "One should never make such assumptions without hearing everything first. Moving on... On weekends Suichi would sometimes work the night shift, and during one of these shifts local gang members decided to hold up the store again. They were bullying a cashier two registers down from Suichi. Suichi stood up to them; one of them pulled a gun on him." He appeared thoughtful. "Suichi might have died that night, but then the customer he'd been waiting on pulled out his own gun, aiming it at the gangster."

He heaved a huge sigh once he'd finished cutting through the ropes, taking deep greedy breaths as the frayed coils fell to the floor. "Oh man," he sighed. "Whoa. I tell you, the only thing that compares to that is taking off a corset laced up too tight after a long day."

"I wouldn't know," Hiei said dryly.

"Eh." The Yoko waved him off. "Anyways," he said, working now to free his legs. "It turned out that Suichi's customer was even more thuggish, if that's the right word for it, than the gangsters holding up the store. He was young, worked alone, and these common brutes were terrified of him. He told them to get their hands off of Suichi and to get the hell out. He told Suichi that he admired his courage, and he left.

"But he came back, every day he came back, even if it was just to buy a newspaper and a candy bar. Every time Suichi worked, this vagabond, Kuronue, would appear, always coming to Suichi's register. And every time, he would wait until he caught Suichi's eye, and then he would smile and wink, and say something that one would expect from an Edwardian noble in a movie, not a vagabond in the downtown. Suichi was completely unaccustomed to this flirting- he'd been the object of more than several girls' infatuation at his school, but to his knowledge no man had ever thought of him in such a way before- but realized that it was not entirely unwelcome. After several weeks of this had passed and Kuronue asked if he might see Suichi in less capitalist surroundings, he accepted without a moment's hesitation."

The Yoko sat up and flexed his arms and legs. Hiei could see the cuts and blood and rope burn on the redhead's hands and forearms as he began undoing his binds for him. "Suichi and Kuronue's first 'date' was hanging out in a bar/grill downtown, and then the alley behind it, but the latter's charm and good humor made up for the less than charismatic surroundings. The two began going out like this frequently, progressing to where Kuronue would bring Suichi back to his place, a loft above his boss's mechanic garage. The two had known each other for almost a year, and it was an overcast afternoon that, to the shimmering of wind through the tree branches and the music of the rock station on the mechanics' radio downstairs, to the smell of oil and the fragrance of an impending rain, the vagabond and the prodigious student made love up in the loft."

Hiei stretched his limbs after the Yoko freed him. "What are you going?" he asked. The Yoko had knelt down, feeling along the floor boards.

"Hush up; I know what I'm doing."

"What happened to Suichi and Kuronue? Did the latter kill the former?"

"_No_," said the Yoko sharply. "Kuronue loved Suichi and vice-versa. Suichi was well-liked by most everybody he knew, but Kuronue was the first person other than Shiori whom he felt he could tell anything to-"

"What had he told Shiori about Kuronue?"

"Oh, my dear Koorime, your powers of perception fail to surprise me." Hiei wasn't sure if the Yoko was being sarcastic or not. "Shiori knew that Suichi would go out often to visit a friend, but knew it was normal for a boy to go see his friends and have a good time. She knew Kuronue's name, knew he had a job in a garage, but knew very little else. Suichi wanted to wait, until he knew that his and Kuronue's relationship was for sure, and then he thought it was time. He sat his mother down one summer evening after dinner, and told her that he was in love with Kuronue, and that Kuronue was in love with him." The Yoko put his fingers into the space between two boards and, to Hiei's surprise, pulled one up as though it were nothing.

"As I told you, theirs was thought to be the perfect relationship between mother and son. Suichi wasn't worried at all- he knew that she would be happy that he was in love, just as he would be happy if she were the one in love."

By now the Yoko had removed half a dozen floor boards, and was crouched down in the crawl space, digging through crumbly installation and dust. Hiei stood by the edge of the hole, looking in. "Your tone's sardonic," he commented.

The Yoko made a sound that was like a combination laugh and sneeze. "Shiori's mind was polluted by ill-based stereotypes and phobias..." He uncovered several objects and lifted them out of the crawl space. Hiei quirked an eyebrow: unopened bottles of liquor and cartons of cigarettes, a shoe box, a whip and a scythe. "What?" the Yoko asked. "I shared this room with Karasu" - the redhead shuddered involuntarily as he said the madman's name- "how else do you propose I arrange my personal possessions so that he cannot find them?" Hiei found it almost amusing that the Yoko would view toxins such as alcohol and tobacco his 'personal possessions.' He eyed the scythe; it looked like the ones used in the Feudal Era- if this was genuine, he could certainly understand why the Yoko would hide it away from someone like Karasu. He examined the whip curiously; it appeared to have no value, just a common whip. "What?" the Yoko jested. "I would have thought that, looking at me and such, you might have guessed my quirks?"

Hiei glanced at the Yoko. "Wouldn't that be an ill-based stereotype?" he asked. "What did Shiori do?" However, he had an ill feeling that he already knew.

He earned a contemptuous look. "She was outraged; Suichi had never seen her as such in his entire life, ever. Shiori slapped him across the face, and asked in a tone most unlike her normal sweet voice if he would like to collect his clothes before he left her house or if he would like _hers_ instead, as he was perverse enough to like men as only _women_ should."

"What?" Hiei demanded. "She kicked him out of the house, just like that?" The Yoko sneered at him.

"I find it amusing," he mused coldly, "how oblivious some people are to the realities of the world we live in, how astounded they are when their minds suddenly awaken to the cruelties and wickedness around us. And that _you_, what with your history that you've shared with me, would be surprised by what I've just told you, well, that just makes this ironic hilarity increase in its value, in a sick sort of way. Yes, Shiori cast Suichi, her only child, out of the Minamino house, but not before saying the most terrible of things to him. And he, having always possessed a certain, subtle naivety about him, was confused and upset by all of it, wondering how someone he had known to possess the demeanor or an angel, and a face to match, could deal him such verbal poison with a serpent's tongue; how his own mother could hate him for such a miniscule thing."

Hiei was not sure how to comment. Yes, he had been ostracized by his fellow Koorime, but given their culture and history, he had never expected otherwise. And at least he'd had his mother's love to the end... "What did Suichi do after his mother kicked him out?"

The Yoko looked up at him- from his vantage point and the lighting of the room, Hiei noticed for the first time that the cross-dresser's emerald-colored eyes had a gold hue to them- a side-affect from extreme alcoholism, he figured. "Suichi had only one year left of high school," the Yoko began slowly. "And after that, probably the choice of various prestigious colleges that would be more than happy to have him and his brilliant mind. The world would be his oyster, as the old saying goes- he could have done anything, if he'd wanted to. The boy had great aspirations, dreams for the future. However, that was before being exiled from the only home he'd known for his seventeen years of life, being exiled by his own mother. That night he left her house, he went straight to Kuronue's loft, and there he stayed for some time, he was so depressed. At the summer's end, he did not return to school, surrendering his dreams and trying to forget that he'd ever had the potential to fulfill them, despite Kuronue's constant insistence that he could still make it at any time, if only he gathered the will to do so again."

Here he paused for a moment, and then proceeded. "Had it not been for Kuronue's love and support, Suichi probably would not have lived for long after being tossed out by Shiori. Eventually, the darkness that had swooped down upon him lifted enough that he began to leave his and Kuronue's bed, and then the loft itself, and after that the garage... With time, he began to roam about Kuronue's neighborhood- well, it was his neighborhood now, too- and got a job in an old shop that specialized in valuable antiques and curios- though why the owner would set up shop with such merchandise in such an area of town, they never figured out..."

He trailed off. "But despite the fact that he did get out of bed and did summon the will to live, Suichi never was the same boy as he had once been ever again. Kuronue was aware of this, and Suichi himself knew and acknowledged the fact, but no matter what, he found he was unable to retain that exact persona he'd possessed prior to the wounds Shiori inflicted upon him that night. This betrayal, this empty feeling, ate at him for some time, gnawing away at his spirit, until eventually Suichi died altogether."

He watched Hiei intently, trying to decipher his expression. Finding that he could not, he resumed searching through the contents of the crawlspace, keeping his head down so that his hostage- or was the billionaire his _former_ hostage now? - could not see the stinging brightness gathering in his eyes.


	15. Chapter XV

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 15  
August 15, 2005

"Where exactly are we going, Toguro?" Bui inquired.

"I don't know; Kurama didn't specify where."

"Otouto," Yukina broke in, "shouldn't we go to the police or something? Karasu _murdered_ Sakyo!"

"I don't think the police will do anything for people like us," Toguro stated bluntly. "Or Sakyo, for that matter." Yukina narrowed her eyes.

"What was that?" Bui asked suddenly.

"What?" Toguro and Yukina asked suddenly. And then they heard footsteps.

"Brother," somebody said.

"Ani?" Toguro asked as the older, albeit much smaller, Toguro brother approached. "I was worried; Karasu appeared, and we couldn't find you... Bui and Yukina, you two run for it- Ani and I'll go back and help Kurama."

"Why?" asked his brother.

Toguro blinked. "You weren't there," he recalled. "Sakyo's dead. Karasu killed him because he refused to join in a plot against Kurama; Karasu wants to-."

"I know Karasu's plan," Ani interrupted. "And by now Kurama may already be drugged and on his way to the surgeon's."

"What?" Toguro demanded.

"Face it, Brother: Kurama's a drunk. His movements aren't as quick as they used to be. Karasu didn't have much trouble overpowering him."

Toguro grabbed his brother and slammed him against the wall. "And you left him there!" he hissed. "He's at the mercy of Karasu and some equally insane surgeon because you-."

"Why are you yelling at me?" he asked defensively. "Everyone's with Karasu."

"Karasu's insane! _Kurama_ is our boss!"

"Kurama _was_ our boss," Ani corrected him. "But it's rather hard to lead the gang when you're constantly drunk and everyone's against you, and you're... dead."

Toguro uttered a feral growl, and shocking Bui and Yukina, smashed his brother's face with a massive angry fist.

"What are we doing?" Hiei asked.

"Getting out of here," announced the Yoko. "Karasu's preoccupied right now- those explosions of his apparently attracted pedestrians and the press, and I believe I heard some police sirens..." He found an empty box, and filled it with the different items he'd uncovered from the crawl space. "You, carry this." The redhead dumped the box into Hiei's arms. "This way." He led Hiei downstairs and toward the back of the house. "Go out the backdoor; _wait for me_," he stressed.

"Where are you going?" Hiei asked.

"Last I checked, those kids were still in the basement." The Yoko shoved Hiei out the backdoor and ran back into the house.

"_Now_ what's going on?" Kuwabara whined.

"I already told you, how the hell am I supposed to know?" Keiko snapped.

"Wait," Yusuke said. "Listen." They did; footsteps descending into the basement.

"Don't rape me!" exclaimed Kuwabara as the Yoko appeared.

The cross-dresser narrowed his eyes at the carrot-top. "Keep a mind-set like that, boy, and the only place you'll succeed is amongst the holier-than-thou, sin-and-fire-and-brimstone-and-Satan-obsessed religious zealots. Now, if you'll shut up and pretend you're _not_ a moron, I'm trying to _save_ you."

"Uh, huh?"

Kurama rolled his eyes. "Evidently, you _can't_ pretend. There's been a bit of a revolution upstairs, if you will. It's not safe for you or for me to stay in this house. I thought I'd be nice and remove you from the threat of a knife to the throat, a bullet to the brain, a detonated explosive..." He shrugged. "However, if you're convinced that I'm Evil Incarnate, I suppose I could just save myself and Mr. Jaganshi-."

"_I _don't think you're Evil Incarnate!" insisted Kuwabara. "_She_ already took that position!" He nodded towards Keiko.

"EvilIncarnate"glowered at him. "Where are we going?" she asked the Yoko.

"I suppose you have several choices," he answered as he cut Yusuke's binds first. "The uprising has lured the press and possibly the police. You could try running to them; however, you'd have to pass Karasu and his league of two-faced traitors first. You could try running on your own and find your way out of downtown; however, you may run into the wrong type of people... Or, I suppose, you could come with me." He cut loose Keiko, and then Kuwabara. "But whatever you decide, it's unwise to stay here."

The three followed him upstairs. "This way, out the backdoor..." Kurama gestured toward the back exit.

There was the blast of an explosion; the kids shrieked and ducked behind furniture, while Kurama cried out in pain. The redhead lurched forward, one hand gripping the wall, the other clutching his stomach- of which it and his thigh had been hit by splintered objects. "Shit..." he grimaced, examining the blood dripping onto his hand. He noticed the three kids, watching him. "Don't just stand there!" he growled. "Go!" They appeared to snap out of it, and scurried for the back door.

Somebody stepped on a splintered piece of wood, causing it to snap. "What are you doing, Foxy?" Karasu asked calmly, his eyes malicious. "You really shouldn't over-exert yourself, you know, seeing as how you're due in for an operation." Kurama glared. "I see you're playing the runaway bride. Well now, I hear those wedding-day jitters are quite normal, really- I could give you something to relax you..." Karasu grinned evilly.

Kurama took a step backwards, and then grimaced: whatever had hit his thigh hadn't merely cut it like his stomach; it'd lodged itself into the flesh. "I don't think this surgery's really my thing, Karasu. I mean, despite the fact that you're a big enough dick for the both of us several times over, I'm still rather partial to-."

"Shut up!" Karasu growled, raising his hand against the cross-dresser. Kurama took a step back, but the wounded leg gave out from beneath him. Karasu grabbed a handful of red hair and slammed his head into the wall; Kurama retaliated by grinding the stiletto of his shoe into his attacker's groin. "You cunt!" Karasu exclaimed, his voice an awkward high pitch. He drew a knife, slashing Kurama's midriff with it before he could get away.

"Hey!" Keiko yelled angrily. "Leave him alone!"

"What are you doing?" exclaimed Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"He needs help!"

"Who cares? He kidnapped us!" Kuwabara countered.

"And he didn't have to help us either!" she retorted.

Karasu narrowed his eyes. "Oh yeah," he said coolly. "I'd nearly forgotten about you three." He took a step towards them.

Keiko put her hands on her hips. "I'm not scared of you!"

"Ooh, sassy!" he jeered. "And such a pretty face… I wonder how lovely it'll be when I'm done-."

Karasu sailed backwards, blood flying from his nose. Kurama took this opportunity to run (dragging his injured leg) for the backdoor. "Come on!" he hissed, while outside a new wave of gunfire broke out.

It seemed none of them heard him- they were all too busy staring at the stunned Karasu, then at Yusuke's fist, spattered with Karasu's blood. "Who... did I...?"

"Yes, yes," Kurama said, annoyed. "You punched him out; good for you. But unless you have a gun"- 'Something I should have brought,' he thought angrily- "we need to leave _now_." Once again, Kurama was ignored, but when Karasu began to move again it appeared the three snapped out of it, following Kurama out the back way.

Hiei quirked an eyebrow when he saw the Yoko limping out the door with three kids he'd never seen before. "What happened to you?" he asked the redhead, but his question was waved off.

"You have my stuff?" he asked. Hiei held up the box. "Let's go."

"Hey!" Kuwabara exclaimed, spotting Hiei. "You're Hiei Jaganshi!"

The billionaire blinked. "Um, yeah..."

"Funny, you're a lot shorter than I figured," the carrot-top continued.

"Must I repeat everything to you!" the Yoko demanded.

"Hey, Yoko person?" Keiko pointed down the alleyway. "Should we be worried?"

He followed her gesture, and then narrowed his eyes. "What the hell! Does nobody listen to me anymore?"

Toguro looked past his boss. "The house is on fire."

He looked behind him and groaned. "Perfect. Smashing. Absolutely, fucking brilliant. Somebody shoot me."

"Please don't joke like that," said Toguro. "Not here, right now. Where are you going?" Kurama had turned away from him and was now limping down the alley. "What happened to you leg?"

"We're relocating," the redhead replied, evading the latter question. I have another place..." He glanced back at the blazing Minamino house, something akin to sadness on his face. "I'm going to kill Karasu for this," he muttered.


	16. Chapter XVI

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 16  
August 15, 2005

"Where are we going?" whined Kuwabara.

"Shut up!" Kurama growled. 'My gang, my house, my leg...'

"I agree with him," Hiei argued. "Where _are_ we going?"

'I don't need this,' he thought. "Deeper into the downtown."

"Why?" asked Hiei. "The downtown's swarming with you guys, right?"

"What, gangsters? Parts of it. But nowadays, there's some areas of the district that even most of them don't venture into."

"So," Kuwabara said, "we'll be safe from that Karasu guy there?"

Kurama, and what remained of his followers, snorted. "One thing that I'll give Karasu is that when he's after something, he doesn't give up."

"So, he'll kill you?"

"Unless I kill him first," the cross-dresser replied mildly.

"Why don't you go to the police?" asked Yusuke.

"Why do you ask stupid questions? Somebody like me- hell, any one of us," he gestured to Toguro, Yukina, and Bui, "_can't _go to the police without running the high risk of being locked up and ourselves. The only time I've ever willingly gone to the police was that time I stole you wallet."

"You stole my what!"

"How else were we supposed to track you down?"

Behind them, Keiko and Kuwabara groaned angrily. "Way to go, Urameshi!" said Kuwabara crossly. He picked up a rock and chucked it at Yusuke's head.

"Hey!" Yusuke found a larger rock and returned fire.

"Hey! You're not supposed to fight back!" Soon a violent rock fight commenced.

"Why are they with us, anyhow?" the quiet Bui asked.

"I gave them a choice," said Kurama wearily.

"Why?"

"I don't know- perhaps Karasu is right: Age has softened me." He shrugged. "Maybe we'll be lucky and they stone each other to death. Toguro, I notice your brother is missing. Did you not find him?"

Toguro narrowed his eyes behind his sunglasses. "I found him; he decided to league with Karasu. He's dead now."

"It's okay, Otata," Yukina practically sang. "Sometimes when brothers turn out to be traitors, it's okay to kill them."

Hiei winced, but the Yoko actually laughed. "Such cheery cynicism," he said. He turned around and gave Hiei a sly look. The billionaire glared, but all this accomplished was an evil grin. The Yoko examined their surroundings- a difficult feat, Hiei would have thought, as it was night and they were engulfed in shadow- and announced, "We're here."

Hiei and the others looked; Keiko pulled out a lighter and flipped it, producing just enough light that they could barely make out the letters beneath the grime of an old sign: Daddy-O's Garage. The Yoko pushed open the door and led the way in. The smell of metal, oil, and grease greeted them; a fine layer of dust kicked up with every step they took.

"Welcome to Daddy-O's," the Yoko said, mimicking a flight attendant. "Keep your arms and legs away from everything, lest you want tetanus (or something worse), and please don't feed the spiders, rats, bats, alley cats, junkyard dogs, and deranged old men." He paused. "Speaking of that last one, if you _do_ encounter an old man, and he's either dead or babbling nonsense, he's supposed to be here."

This caused Hiei to raise an eyebrow, but he decided not to comment.

"Anyways," the Yoko continued, "do as you will, but the upstairs is _mine_." And saying thus, the transvestite found a narrow, crude little staircase that hugged one wall, and ascended out of sight.

"Crazy dead old guy?" Kuwabara snickered. "Yeah, right. Isn't this the same guy- or whatever the hell he is- who said we weren't going to leave his basement alive?"

"I think he said we _might _not," Yusuke corrected.

"Whatever. So, uh, what do we do now?" Yusuke and Keiko shrugged.

Hiei ignored the kids- they for the most part bored him- and looked around. Toguro, Bui, and Yukina were picking through pieces of cars and scrap metal. He heard the Yoko walking around upstairs. Then he furrowed his brow as he heard what sounded like a busted television.

"What's that?" Keiko said.

"Do you hear it too?" he asked her.

"That white noise?" He nodded. "I think it's coming from there." She pointed to a door near the base of the stairs.

He approached the door, opened it slowly. He grimaced at the sight inside.

The room was tiny, an old office, he thought. Against the back wall was a metal bookcase stocked with moldy magazines and dead plants. An out-of-date calendar hung from the wall, featuring a leather-clad woman (whose outfit reminded Hiei of the Yoko) straddling a motorcycle. The white noise he'd heard came from a mini-T.V. set, which rested on the edge of a desk. A few moths fluttered abut the set, attracted to the blue-white light it emanated, while two fat gray rats sat perched on the desk, feasting on an open bag of potato chips.

The rats started when he stepped into the room; one stood his ground, seeming to glower at Hiei for his intrusion, while the other fled- climbing over a booted foot that rested on the edge of the desk, and then disappearing. The owner of the foot was an old man, who lay kicked back in a swivel chair with the stuffing of the seat spilling out. His ancient face was framed by a mane of long, dirty white hair, capped by a Chopper's due rag, and a beard to match. His clothing- a black tee shirt and jeans stained by sweat and grease and oil- suggested that he was (or once was) a mechanic. The man lay very still, his mouth hanging open, a fly buzzing around his face.

"Whoa..." Hiei looked behind him. He'd been joined by the three kids. "Is he dead?" the carrot-topped one asked.

"I don't know," Hiei replied. "It looks that way..."

"What the hell are you talking about? Let me through." Yukina pushed past them all, and observed the old man. "He dead?"

"I don't-."

"I wasn't asking you!" she snapped at Hiei. She lifted a screw driver off the desk, and poked him none-too-gently in the shoulder. He stirred, and hurled a string of insults at her. "Hm, guess not," she mused. "Hey..." She'd found a cooler behind the old man's chair. "Score!" Beer had been discovered. "Thanks, Grandpa," she said, kissing him on the cheek and, carrying the cooler with surprising strength for one so small, shoved her way out of the office.

"That's my beer!" shouted the old man. He pulled open a desk drawer with such ferocity that it flew out of its frame and onto the floor. Then he pulled out a wrench and brandished it like a madman. "Damn bitch!"

"Daddy-O, Daddy-O, Daddy-O," a rich alto voice crooned, almost soothingly. "Put the wrench away. Wouldn't want our visitors to think you're deranged or something, right?" The Yoko appeared, taking the wrench from the old man's hands.

"Same damn place, Red," "Daddy-O" said. He looked the cross-dresser up and down. "Still alive, eh?"

"I should say the same to you." The Yoko turned to Hiei. "This is Daddy-O, my dear, of Daddy-O's Garage."

"Who's that?" the mechanic mumbled. "That your boyfriend?"

The Yoko laughed; Hiei narrowed his eyes. "I'm Hiei Jaganshi," he said.

"Never heard of you."

"I'm co-president of Makai Enterprises."

"Ooh, and I'm the runner-up Duchess of Zanzibar!" Daddy-O poured out what was left of the potato chips (upsetting the remaining rat) and placed the bag atop his head in the fashion of a crown.

"I would have thought you were the Potato Pope," said the Yoko, amused. "We're going to crash here for a while, okay?"

Daddy-O cast a look at the room's other occupants. "Gang's gone to shit," he grumbled.

"I know," the Yoko agreed, thinking of his house going up in flames.

"Yeah..." the old man waved his hand. "Stay if you want; I don't care." He examined Hiei once more. "Kuronue would kick your ass!" he growled. Hiei widened his eyes.

"Good night, Daddy-O." The Yoko shooed Hiei and the rest out of the office, shutting the door. "He's rather insane," he admitted. "It's unwise to disturb him," he added warningly. "You" - he seized Hiei by the arm- "you're coming with me. You" - he pointed to Yusuke, Keiko, and Kuwabara- "go see if you can bum a beer off Yukina or something."

"But we're underage!" protested Yusuke. (Keiko and Kuwabara groaned.) "That's illegal!"

"So is kidnapping," retorted the redhead. He grabbed Hiei by the sleeve and pulled the billionaire (struggling to keep hold of the box) upstairs. "Drop the box," he said, pointing to the floor by the hide-a-bed. Hiei put it down. The Yoko beckoned for Hiei to sit down on said bed.

"I'm not interested," said Hiei bluntly.

"That isn't what I'm after!" he snapped.

"Then why'd you drag me up here!" Hiei had had it with the Yoko's odd antics.

"Because I need someone here in case I pass out!" the cross-dresser snarled. "And they're all drinking downstairs!"

Before Hiei could further protest, the Yoko had produced a knife, sat down by Hiei, and proceeded to hike up his skirt. Hiei stared. "What are you-?" He left off, however, once he saw the wounds on his thigh, just below his hip. "What happened? Is that why you've been limping?"

The Yoko pulled down his stocking. "Caught some flying pieces of stuff Karasu blew up. Guess that's what I get for being nice to those kids. And yes, this _is_ why." The Yoko appeared hesitant for a moment, but then dug the knife into the flesh of his thigh. Hiei grimaced in disgust; the Yoko grimaced in pain.

"You should probably see a doctor instead of-."

"Yeah, great idea," the Yoko interrupted dryly. "Maybe the hospital will have a daycare center where I can drop off you and the kids, too." He gritted his teeth, eyes watering. The knife found something. The Yoko squeezed his eyes shut, dug the blade under the intrusion, and cut it, and the surrounding flesh, out of his leg. The invasive object, a large splinter of wood, landing on the floor amidst chunks of bloody meat. Hiei squirmed.

The Yoko's complexion had paled, and his breathing was shallower. He swallowed, and stabbed the knife back in. "What are you doing!" exclaimed Hiei.

"There's more in there," he hissed through his teeth. "I can feel it." Hiei's stomach churned when the Yoko abandoned his knife and began feeling around for splinters with his very fingers.

Five, ten more minutes passed, Hiei feeling more and more sick as the Yoko pulled out more and more bloody splinters. "I think that's all," the Yoko said, looking too pale for Hiei's comfort. "There's, um, there's some rags in that drawer over there..."

"Right." Hiei retrieved a bundle of these rags and set them down next to the Yoko, who immediately began pressing them to the tear in his leg. "Are you going to be okay?" There was the sheen of sweat gathering on his face.

He nodded, applying more pressure. "Count yourself lucky I didn't lose consciousness."

"Squeamish?"

"Kind of. I haven't been shot in a long while, but we always tried our best to tend to ourselves. I've never been great at operating on myself; he'd have to do it for me sometimes."

He was about to ask who "he" was, but he noticed something wet-looking on the front of the Yoko's shirt. "What's that?"

"What?" Hiei held his hand against the spot; it came back sticky and crimson-colored. The Yoko lifted up his shirt, revealing the slit there in his abdomen. He groaned. "Rags, please. And could you please ask Daddy-O if he has running water?"

* * *

"Loser!" Yukina exclaimed. "Pay up!"

Bui stared at her a moment, then handed over his change. She grinned. "Number eight, you rock!" She poured beer onto the floor as tribute to the rat dubbed "Number eight."

Yusuke and Keiko rolled their eyes. "Rat races," she muttered. "Weirdoes."

"Did you see the way she took that quiet guy's money?" Kuwabara sighed. His companions looked at him. "What?"

"Figures," muttered Keiko.

Yukina looked up from counting her winnings. "What do you want?" she asked rudely.

"Beer can," Hiei said. "Out of the cooler, please."

"What happened to _you_?" she sneered, pointing to the bruise on his forehead.

"Woke up Daddy-O."

"Well, maybe I don't want to give you one."

"Please."

"Ohh, poor Hiei got no beer for pissing off the crazy old guy. Koorime are worked to death in the mountains and sold into prostitution, but your bruise is _much _more serious."

"Koorime also would have liked to see me turn into a Hiei-cicle. Or be gunned down in my hotel room," he accused.

Yukina shrugged. "Well, maybe you deserve it, Brother."

"Just give him the beer," said Toguro. He sat on the floor, dissecting a carburetor for entertainment.

She rolled her eyes, and threw a can at Hiei, looking rather disappointed when he caught it.

Hiei went back upstairs, pressing the can against his bruise. "My sister doesn't like me that much."

"Duh," said the Yoko. "You didn't know that?"

"Well, I did-."

"Then quit stating the obvious." He finished wrapping the gauze around his stomach. "But can you blame her?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Never mind. Could you lace me up?"

"Huh?"

The Yoko held up a corset. "My back hurts."

"Where'd you get that?"

"I used to live here. I left some of my clothes when I moved. Are you going to help me or what?" He wrapped the corset around his middle and held it in place. Hiei hesitated. "Just pull on the strings as hard as you can."

"But... what if I pull too tightly?"

"Believe me, I'll let you know. Now please..."

He took the strings uncertainly and pulled. "Are you feeling better?"

"Some, thank you. I knew Daddy-O, even now, would have some form of a first-aid kit around here, he always does (Oh, you should have seen this place while it was running! The cuts, the burns, the dismembered appendages!), but water cleans better than peroxide. I'm sorry he threw that wrench at you. Are you hurt at all?"

"Just bruised," he murmured, pulling harder. The Yoko exhaled sharply. "You okay?"

He nodded. "Yes, keep- Ah! - going."

Hiei did, watching the corset while he did. It pressed tightly against the Yoko's waist and chest, and Hiei worried that the redhead may have difficulty breathing. On the other, superficial hand, he thought that this device that boxed him in like it did made him look rather enticing...

"That's enough!" the Yoko gasped. Hiei tied up the strings and backed away.

"Can you breathe?" he asked.

"Yeah," he said. He took a few deep breaths to prove it. "That feels a little better. Thank you." He smiled at Hiei. "I think I'll lie down now; I feel a little light-headed. Care to join me?" Hiei gave him an odd look. "What?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

The Yoko appeared to think on it for a moment. "I don't know, really. Do you disapprove of my being nice to you?"

"No."

"Well, then why question it?" He lay down on the mattress, and patted the spot next to him. "Besides, there's been few nights between the time I was seventeen and now that I've slept alone. I guess I'm just used to having another body next to me, be it that of someone I love, or hate, or have no feelings either way towards."

"You've loved?"

"And why not?" he asked defensively. "I've loved, can love. Have you trouble believing that?"

Hiei shrugged, unsure whether he did or not, and lay down beside him. "Which or those categories do I fall into? Love, or Hate, or Neither?"

He didn't receive an immediate reply. "Not hatred," he replied softly. "And not neither, either." He sat up and gazed down at Hiei thoughtfully. "I'll admit that I am rather fond of you, Short One."

The billionaire scowled at the nickname. "Hn, I'll bet you're fond of anybody willing to lace up your corset, Kurama."

"Oh, so now we're on a first name basis, Hiei?"

"Yeah, I guess we are." The Yoko- Kurama- laughed and drew up a musty-smelling blanket over the both of them.

Several minutes passed, and Hiei was drifting off, when he thought he heard Kurama murmur, so soft that he may have simply imagined it, "It's ironic, isn't it? After what was said, that I would end up liking girls' clothes?"


	17. Chapter XVII

_I'll warn you right now: by now you probably have realized that Kurama's character is depressed (which is why he drinks so much- kind of like how Atsuko is in the actual show). Due to this he is also very much the pessimist. You'll get to sample some of his logic, shaped after a lifetime of ostracisation and being let down in one form or another. Some of it is simply due to the fact that he is horribly jaded, but I would like to think that some of it is also a rather correct (albeit it very blunt) outlook on certain issues. The lines are rather blurred, but maybe you'll be able to pick up on some of it. _

* * *

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 17  
August 16, 2005

Hiei awoke to the sound of rain pounding on the roof. He sat up and glanced over at his companion. Kurama lay flat on his back, eyes shut, his mouth opened more than just slightly, his corseted chest rising and falling. The billionaire frowned: Kurama still looked paler than his normal complexion. "Wake up," he whispered, nudging him.

Kurama cracked an eye and looked around, momentarily bearing a mild resemblance to Godzilla. "You should know better than to wake sleeping sleazebags," he grumbled. "Unless one wrench to the head isn't enough for you?"

"You're pale," Hiei noted.

Kurama rolled his eyes. "Most redheads are, dolt." He sat up and stretched. "Of course, I suppose slicing a chunk out of my leg doesn't help, does it? Wonder if Daddy-O has any real food around here..." He stood up, and tucked something on a chain back into his corset.

Hiei noticed. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"That thing on the chain."

"This?" Kurama pulled the chain out, revealing it to be a necklace, a pendant featuring a nice-sized red stone. "It's, um, it belonged to somebody I knew, a long time ago." He shrugged, and changed the subject. "Let's look into that food now, shall we?" He gestured impatiently for Hiei to hop to.

Daddy-O had by now awakened, and Hiei and Kurama descended into the main garage to bear witness to the old mechanic propositioning Keiko and Yukina in a way that apparently displeased both girls- and Yusuke and Kuwabara, from the aggravated expressions on both boys' faces. However, once he noticed the newcomers, Daddy-O abandoned the role of filthy old pervert and took up harassing them instead:

"Good gods! You didn't take him up there, _up there_, and-?"

"Hell no!" Kurama spat angrily. "There's still at least one or two things I hold sacred." He threw the old man a very loathsome glare. "Have you any food in this forgotten corner of Hell, or am I going to starve as usual?"

"Well why can't you go out and get something?" Daddy-O gave him a curious look. "Why'd you come back here, anyway?"

"Too much attention from that lot of incompetent morons who dare to call themselves a police force."

"And?" Toguro pressed from behind him.

Kurama turned and gave the giant an angry look. "And... this guy has this completely insane plot against me, but no big deal. You have any food or what?"

"Rats probably ate it all," answered Daddy-O. "You go pick up some, won't you? Order a pizza; wake me when it's here." The mechanic tottered back to his office, closing the door behind him.

Almost immediately, Kuwabara made a beeline for the phone. "Hey!" he exclaimed angrily. "It's dead!"

"Not surprising," Kurama replied indifferently. "Daddy-O's rather senile. Poor man, I think he might be developing Alzheimer's disease; there are times I swear he thinks this place is still as it was fifteen years ago."

"Well that's great!" Yukina huffed. "What are we supposed to eat, the rats?"

"If you can figure out how to properly prepare the little rodents, by all means, who am I to keep your stomach empty?" replied Kurama wryly.

"What was this place like fifteen years ago?" asked Toguro.

"Eh." Kurama shrugged. "Your average downtown garage, I guess. Not as filthy and infested as it is now, or empty. This place was always occupied and noisy. Back in those days Daddy-O himself wasn't so disheveled and insane- he lived in a house, not in his office, and he made a little extra renting out the loft to-."

Kurama broke off all of a sudden. "Never mind," he said. "It was just better times, that's all."

"You were around then?" asked Hiei. "How's that possible?"

The redhead afforded a small, sarcastic laugh. "Quite possible, really. I'm older than I look- rather funny, though, because I'm not the healthiest person in the world..." He trailed off, and shrugged. "Knowing my luck, assuming that's the appropriate title for it, I'll end up like poor deranged Daddy-O, on the slim chance that I live long enough."

"Let's not talk about such things," Toguro said quickly. "The Youkai is no more, maybe it's time for something new-."

"Yeah, right," Kurama interrupted. "Keep telling yourself that, Toguro." He stalked away from the both of them.

Hiei was put off by this mood swing, but Toguro appeared completely unfazed. "What'll happen to all of you, after this?" Hiei asked.

"Not quite sure," the giant answered. "I'm not too worried about myself; Bui can stick with me, if that's his wish; Yukina can go back to her homeland, if she wants. The boss, on the other hand... Well, I guess he co-founded the gang; it's pretty much been his life, I guess. Hm, I kind of blame myself- in a way, it's partly my own fault that the Youkai started to fall apart."

"Yeah, why's that?"

"When I joined, I brought my own posse with me: Ani, Bui, and Karasu. I kind of 'won' Bui and Karasu. Bui I've never really had much of a problem with; Karasu, on the other hand..."

"He wormed his way to the top."

"Yeah." Toguro sighed. "I don't know how Karasu got to Kurama, but before we all knew it Karasu was sleeping in our leader's bed, making his own rules, and bringing in his own guys. And, well, I'm sure you can piece everything together from there, right?"

"Uh-huh..."

"Anyways, I guess that Kurama figures that now that he's lost the Youkai, he's nowhere to go. I'll admit, he's a pretty pessimistic guy, but who knows? - maybe he's right." The juggernaut shrugged, began walking away...

"Wait," Hiei said. Toguro stopped. "You said that Kurama's _co_-founder?"

"Yeah; him and some other guy."

"Who was the other guy?"

Toguro thought a moment. "Now that you mention it, I don't know. He's dead now, though."

"Wait."

Toguro heaved an annoyed sigh. "What?"

"Why'd Kurama jump into this whole kidnapping scheme? Did Sakyo pay him or something?"

"I don't know." Toguro really wished that Jaganshi would shut up, but the billionaire's questions ate at him. He was pretty sure- no, he _knew_- that Kurama had once mentioned something to him about the other founder... a name... but now he couldn't remember it. And it'd never occurred to him before, but it came to his attention that Kurama had never elaborated his motives for leaguing with Sakyo either.

* * *

Kurama slipped on the wet, uneven base, cursed, but got back up and looked down. He'd climbed out one of the loft windows, up onto the roof, like he used to. The little street below was flooded from the rain, rain that even now continued to fall without relent from the dark sky above. He was by now completely soaked but didn't care. He was cold and in pain from the wounds in his leg, made worse by his own botched attempt at surgery, but these too, he ignored. Paranoia had worked its way in; all other issues were near-obsolete to him right now.

He thought that this darkness, this rain that distorted one's vision, was the perfect cover for Karasu to sneak up on him. He could envision those milk-white hands, as he'd seen them in his nightmares, emerge, disembodied, from the darkness and yank on him, like some life-sized marionette, to act on his whim. Those hands running through his hair, sliding down to wrap around his neck, press against his throat, choke the life out of him.

He shuddered. 'I wonder if that is how he plans to kill me,' he thought. Would Karasu be so reckless? Throttling him like that, it would most definitely leave a mark, unless he thought to use something like a scarf. Then again, what did it matter if he did or not? After all, who would give a shit about a cross-dressing gangster, slaughtered by an enemy? Did any of them care about the girl down the street, molested by her father? She was always an odd little girl; she was crazy; remember how she mutilated herself? And the vagabond, that man of the streets, did they care when he was gunned down in the alley that one night? Ooh, he was trash, a thief, no good, a menace to society, better off dead... None of them were sorry that he died.

And that boy, who cared when he, not even an adult, was thrown to the streets like a bag of garbage by his mother? Oh no, he liked other men, he was an ungrateful little fag, fucked up little cock-sucker, what a disgrace he was to his mother, poor woman, where'd she go wrong raising him? Who wept for that boy when he quietly died?

'They're responsible for it,' Kurama thought bitterly. 'Vermin are drawn to the rank, putrid dark, and they thrive there. The rats and snakes and roaches and worms that are the perversion of the father, the prejudices of the mother, the hypocrisy of the public. What are we, any of us, but their darker, inner reflections- a part of them that they fear, hate, lash out against; their scapegoats? Who among us is truly pure and innocent?'

He plopped down on the cold wet tin of the roof. Off in the distance he heard the cat-like shriek of a police siren. He grimaced. The police, who did they help? They assaulted and murdered, not always justly, did they not? And so had he, but if he went to them now, he'd be arrested, sentenced, and locked up or executed in some ludicrous costly ceremony for his crimes. He spat. Fuck those men and women in blue- they ought to wear yellow, the damned cowards- they wouldn't even set foot in this part of town most of the time, one practically had to shove them over the district line.

'And the only reason they're here now is to convince the public that they're on top of everything.' If the public believed that, then... stupid public. What if he decided to go ahead and kill Hiei and those children- would the police be crucified then, for neglecting their duties?

He shook his head. No, he couldn't do that. He hadn't lied when he told Hiei that he'd grown fond of him- hated, outcast child, who's inability to alienate somebody different earned him a life of wealth and power. A Cinderella story, except without the sugar-coating, the moral that... what moral? The empty-headed woman got by with a shit load of help and a man who loved her looks. What had she done, really? He laughed. 'Is this the nonsense we teach our children?' he wondered. 'Mommy, why does that man have to sleep on a bench in the park? Well sweetie, he doesn't have a job, so he doesn't have money to pay for a roof over his head. But why don't the birds and mice help him, Mommy? Well sweetie, he has to compete with the birds and mice over the food left in the garbage. But why doesn't somebody rich fall in love with him and take him to a castle? Because he's dirty and ugly and real, and people fear the truth, and we hate what we fear and don't understand... And that is why nobody loves that dirty, smelly old homeless man.

'...And that is why nobody loves that ugly girl who was molested, and nobody loves that vagabond who stole to survive, and nobody loves that little fag who shamed his mother with the truth...

'...Except that misery loves company. And the little hated cast out boy loved the ugly molested girl, and the ugly molested girl loved the little hated cast out boy. And the thieving vagabond loved that little fag, and that little fag loved the thieving vagabond... and the little cast out boy...'

Kurama felt sorry for that dirty, smelly old homeless man in his mind. The 'innocent' public didn't love him, and pretty soon the little hated cast out boy would go home to his happy ending; and the ugly molested girl and the thieving vagabond were both dead; and the little fag… was damned every which way now- it'd be unfair for him to offer his love.

'Poor dirty, smelly old homeless man,' he thought. 'Nobody loves you, and pretty soon some macho cop will shake you and say, "Get moving, you lazy bum," because the public doesn't want to see or deal with you.'

* * *

Hiei wandered upstairs in search of Kurama. He felt weird in this place unless he was in the redhead's company, strange as it was.

Then again, why was he still here? Surely he wasn't still a hostage- hadn't Kurama much more important things to worry about right now? If he left now, they, these gangsters, probably wouldn't stop him. Hell, he wasn't even supposed to be here- Yomi was probably home at Makai Estates, wondering where and how he was, or at the police station, finding out if there were any leads as the where he may be. This was just a brief disturbance, and now it was over, right? Time to go home to his company and assets and money, and forget about his psycho sister and the odd Toguro brothers and quiet Bui and corporate mogul Sakyo and malicious Karasu and that cross-dressing Kurama that he couldn't quite figure out...

Kurama wasn't in his room, but Yukina was. "What are you doing?" he asked.

The little Koorime glared at him. "I'm borrowing some of his clothes, if you must know."

"Where is-?"

"How am I supposed to know?" she growled. "He isn't in here; go look for him your own damn self, why don't you?"

Hiei narrowed his eyes. "Why are you so nasty with me?" he demanded.

"I don't like you," was the blunt reply. "Good enough reason?"

"I'm your brother; don't you know that?"

"Where is it written that brothers and sisters _have_ to like each other?" Yukina sneered. "Yeah, I know you're my brother; I've always known you were my brother."

He blinked. "Even when they sent you to kill me?"

"Oh, what are you bitching about? You're still alive, aren't you?"

"But you still would have..."

"So? You deserve it."

"You really think that?"

Yukina didn't answer immediately. "I take it back. What you _really_ deserve is to be carted back to the ice and snow and forced to live as we do, to go through the same hell as us. And after you've experienced all of that, _then _you deserve to be shot like a dog!"

"What's with this grudge? I've never done anything against you!"

"And you sure haven't done anything _for_ us, now haven't you?"

"Well, why should I?" Hiei asked angrily. "After that sort of childhood?"

His sister sneered. "And to think: I once _pitied_ you!" She grabbed an armful of Kurama's clothes and stormed out of the room.

Hiei glared after her, but started when he heard something behind him. Kurama had entered the room through one of the windows. He groaned. "How much of that did you hear?" he asked, wondering what the hell he'd been doing on the roof. The redhead was soaking wet.

"All of it." He sneezed. 'Was that what it was like to hear me and Karasu fight?'

"She hates me."

"Does she now?" He sneezed again.

"Well, you heard everything she said."

"True. And I didn't hear her once say, 'I hate you, Hiei,' or anything resembling that. Did I hear wrong?"

Hiei thought a moment. "No..." he said slowly. "No, you didn't."

"So how do you know that she hates you?"

"She tried killing me, didn't she?"

Kurama appeared thoughtful. "Well... Sakyo and I did order her to assassinate you- uh, that was before we decided that kidnapping would be better- but she _did_ miss..."

"Bet that pissed her off," Hiei muttered.

"Actually, _I _was the one pissed off- I believe I ripped out part of her hair..."

"What's your point?"

"Well, Sakyo suggested Yukina do the job because she's never missed-"

"- Until I came along-"

"My point," Kurama said impatiently, beginning to shiver, "is that I think it's a pretty big coincidence that when somebody as skilled as Yukina misses, the target happens to be her brother."

The billionaire furrowed his brow. "She talks about how bad things are for the Koorime up there, but they sure didn't have any gunpersons when I left-." Kurama began to laugh. "What's so funny?"

The redhead shot him a sly smile. "You think she learned all of that up there?"

"She didn't?"

Kurama shook his head. "Sakyo taught her, you know, for the hell of it, and I guess she turned out to be really good at it. Kind of funny."

"Sakyo bought her, right?"

"No."

"Huh? She told me that she'd been sold-."

"She was, but not to Sakyo. To some ruthless, ugly old man named Tarukane- I never did business with him, but Sakyo did- he didn't care for the guy too much." He smiled evilly. "Sakyo destroyed him financially, and the guy turned loony. And what good is a Koorime girl to a madman in the nuthouse? Sakyo took pity on her, brought her to his home. No wonder she's so upset he's dead... I guess he was, in some small inadvertent way, some sort of savior to her..."

"She wants to blame me for her misfortune," Hiei grumbled. "I've suffered just as much, haven't I?"

"From what you've told me, probably. But she was never in a position to help you; she was just a little kid like you, right?" He didn't allow Hiei time to answer. "But now you, you're doing pretty good, aren't you? Ever given anything back to the Koorime?"

"No... I've thought about it before, several times, but..."

Kurama shrugged. "So? You and your mother were shunned due to the Koorime distrust of the outside world, right? So show them that not everybody from the outside world is out to screw them every which way."

"Not everybody from the outside world is out to screw them every which way," Hiei said defensively.

"Yeah? Really? That's the problem with some groups: they _know_ that not all of them are bad, but when do they ever stand up over the crowds and scream so everybody can hear them that what their more wicked affiliates are doing is wrong and should be stopped? And then they have the nerve to _bitch_ about being categorized. Christians bitch about being categorized as overly-zealous radical jerks, but when was the last time you _ever _saw the rational ones band together to speak out against the hateful fanatics? Arabs bitch about being stereotyped as terrorists, but when was the last time you saw the Arab nations all speak out to denounce the jihadists? You bitch about the Koorime hating you for being an 'outsider', but when have you ever made the effort to show them that not all the outsiders are out to exploit them?" Kurama crossed his arms and gazed at Hiei, almost accusingly.

Hiei blinked. "Um, what were you doing on the roof?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Nothing." He sneezed again.


	18. Chapter XVIII

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 18  
October 1, 2005

"Mr. Yomi, what are your thoughts of the police discovering where Hiei Jaganshi was incapacitated until just recently?"

"Well, Koto... to be truthful, I think that if the police had heeded my suggestion in the first place to investigate the downtown Makai District- especially after the attack on my home by a gang member of that neighborhood- they might have rescued my business partner and the three witnesses, rather than just discovering where the Youkai have kept them. Further more, I've decided that this city's law enforcement is composed primarily of belligerent half-wits too cowardly to do their jobs, and if I were the family of any of the three children involved, I would most certainly be filing a lawsuit against the city right about now."

"Turn that off," growled the Lieutenant. Detective Koenma hurried to comply. "What the hell were you thinking, _Sir_, when you gave that interview?"

Yomi, though he could not see the Lieutenant, envisioned a man with a rage-purpled face and throbbing veins. "I was thinking exactly what I said I was thinking when I gave that interview," he answered calmly. "Care to know what I'm thinking right now? I'm thinking that you're a power mad ogre of an officer who is wasting a lot of time yelling at me when you should be overseeing the investigation of the downtown Makai District. The four hostages have been missing from the Minamino house for not even 48 hours, correct? You really should, as the old saying goes, strike while the iron is hot."

"I don't need some uppity civilian telling me how to do my job!" roared the Lieutenant. Letting his temper get the best of him, he made to punch Yomi, but the latter caught the formers fist before it reached his face.

"I do agree with you that it _is_ rather ludicrous that a civilian knows how to do your job better than you do, Lieutenant; however, I doubt you really want to hit me. What with all the police brutality cases currently coming to the attention of the public, striking a blind man will do nothing to help your precinct's image, especially right now."

The Lieutenant shook with fury, and quickly turned from this aggravation. "I believe we're through here," he said coolly. "My people will call your people if we turn up anything new."

"Indeed," said Yomi (had he eyes, he'd have been rolling them right then). He rose, and to the tapping of his cane, showed himself the way out.

Detective Koenma saw the blind man out of the corner of his eye and frowned. "Remind me to send Mr. Yomi a thank-you bomb for that _wonderful_ interview he gave."

"Hey now, watch it," warned Botan. "You want us to be taken seriously or not? Now, care to help me deal with _this_?" She gestured to their 'visitors.'

Koenma groaned. "Fine, I'll take the mom and grandma." He approached said women. "Ah, hello Ms. Urameshi and Ms. Genkai-."

"Have you found anything else yet?" demanded Atsuko Urameshi.

"Uh..." This woman, with her spotless pressed wrinkle-free clothes, her hair pulled back in the most severe of hairstyles, and her wire-rimmed glasses, intimidated him very much. "We're doing everything we can, Ms. Urameshi-."

"Well do more!" she snapped. "You have no idea what this entire ordeal has been for me! Everyone at the social club keep bringing this up, and they never fail to mention how he was picked up with two juvenile delinquents!"

"Um..." This woman talked as though she cared more for her image than her own son.

"You must find Yusuke soon," pleaded Genkai, a short, fragile sort of woman wearing a poodle sweater. "It's raining out there; he might catch cold or pneumonia and die..."

"Yeah, so, I was watching that blind guy on T.V., and I, like, heard what he was saying about suing the city and stuff, and I decided that, like, if you guys don't find my baby brother, that's what I might do, so yeah..."

"Uh-huh," Botan said, nodding, a big fake smile pasted on her face. 'What a ditz!' she thought. As Koenma tried reasoning with Yusuke Urameshi's family, so Botan tried to do with Kazuma Kuwabara's sister, Shizuru. "Well, we're trying our best to find your brother, Miss Kuwabara, okay?" She tried her best to sound her most cheery and preppy.

"Okay!" exclaimed Shizuru. "Well, I'll be, like, leaving now because I'm, like, late for cheerleading practice, and then I'm going to the club with some Sorority girls, so yeah."

"Okay then." Botan waited until the pink and frills that were Shizuru Kuwabara had disappeared, and then shuddered. "Like, oh my God, she is, like, _so_ preppy, like, gag me with a spoon!"

* * *

"Are you okay?" asked Hiei, concerned.

"Y-Yeah," chattered Kurama, wiping the sweat off his brow. "C-Could you bring me a glass of water, please?"

"Um, yeah." Hiei hesitated at the door. "Do you want a blanket or something?" Kurama shrugged. "I'll be right back."

Kurama lay on his side, curled into a ball. His body felt like an oven, and black dots kept appearing before his eyes. 'Stupid,' he scolded himself, knowing this was a side effect from his wounds, of which he'd probably made worse. His breath came out in a shaky hiss through chattering teeth; he could feel sweat emanating from every pore in his body.

He was dimly aware of Hiei coming back and wrapping a blanket around him, and then pressing a water glass to his lips. He took greedy gulps of that slightly gritty-tasting liquid, pressing himself against Hiei, whimpering due to the switch of his body temperature from hot to cold and back.

"You know, I quit eating for a while," he murmured. The fever was messing with his mind. "It killed my immune system, you know?" He nudged his head into Hiei's lap. "He had to take care of me, come upstairs when he was on break and mush vitamin capsules into baby food and force-feed me. I hated it, and I'm sure he hated it, but he did it all anyhow."

Hiei rubbed Kurama's back. "Who's 'he'?"

But the redhead merely closed his eyes and heaved a soft little sigh. "He wasn't bad, you know? Sure, he did steal, but it was only to keep us fed when working didn't cut it. A lot of people were going hungry down here back then- a lot of them had to turn to illegal activity just to keep themselves and their families alive. And then all these rough-necks- the _real _shady type- they crawled out of some damn cesspool and hung around in the neighborhood and frightened away business, and he had to do it more.

"He tried to get another job, you know, after people grew too scared to bring in their cars anymore. He shut his eyes. "He took care of me when I was sick too; I started to feel bad that he was giving so much and receiving so little from me. That's why I got up and tried contributing- I started working in a little shop. It didn't last long, but I managed to scrounge a gift for him out of the entire thing." He smiled deliriously. "He had a fascination with feudal weapons.

"But he wasn't even lucky enough to land anything temporary- would-be employers would take one look at him and immediately deem him as no-good street trash, and they'd turn him away. So he had to steal more." He afforded a sarcastic little chuckle. "Society is so judgmental, you know?"

"Who's 'he'?" Hiei asked again.

"For example," Kurama continued, "People would see me on occasion who knew me from before. Some turned away from me and pretended not to see; some spat at me; some wished to 'help' me, but it always involved giving up Kuronue and ignoring those sorts of feelings, because they were 'sinful.' I decided I'd rather starve than accept their self-righteous 'help'."

Hiei raised his eyebrows. 'Kuronue,' he thought.

"We never meant to get so caught up in the whole gangster deal; it just... happened." He smiled in a delirious sort of way. "I suppose that after doing it long enough, in an effort to survive, we just sort of… adapted, if that's the right word for it."

Kurama reached for Hiei's hand, the one holding the water glass, but discovered that he'd already drained its contents. "I'll get more," said Hiei. "In a minute."

"I loved him," Kurama said weakly, sitting up a little and resting his head on Hiei's shoulder. "And even though times grew worse, I never stopped loving him. And even now, now that he's gone and I'm stuck here alone, I still love him... and I always will."

"He died," Hiei stated. Kurama nodded.

"We angered some businessmen- these greedy corporate slime bags, the type who make their money by feeding off the impoverished, you know? - We stole from them. They had money coming out of the ass- money _they _took from people like the ones in our neighborhood, the people who couldn't get any jobs or feed themselves or anything- as sickeningly funny as it is, _we_ were probably better off than most in our neighborhood. But they just couldn't part with that money graciously- it was probably a fraction of a fraction of what people like them have, and the way they reacted, you'd think we'd driven them to bankruptcy (oh, how I wish that had been the case- now _that_ might have made it all worth it, to see them reduced to our level). They sent people- people like the people who came out of that cesspool into our neighborhood- out after us. I escaped; Kuronue didn't. He made me go on while they riddled his body with the bullets of a machine gun."

Hiei noticed that through the delirious tone of voice, Kurama sounded rather depressed.

"I went back for his body, but it was gone when I came. They must have taken it, I guess, to cover it up, the killing- possibly dismembered and scattered it or ground it up or poured lime over it... All I found when I returned was blood and the occasional chunk of flesh... and the pendant." He fingered his necklace. "A bullet must have snapped its cord; I found it lying under a dumpster, reflecting the glow of a streetlight situated at the end of the alley.

"I ran the Youkai alone after that for a very long time. These men, these murderers of my Kuronue, they were viewed as distinguished gentlemen by the people. Kuronue? A worthless criminal who got what he deserved, damn thief, vagabond, may he rot in hell. Myself? Faggot, little immoral cock-sucking ass-banging sodomite whore, deviant, ought to smear his perverted brains on the pavement, send him to hell because heaven won't possibly take him. The public was stupid, fuck the public. _Nobody_ was innocent or pure in my eyes afterward. I killed, and I enjoyed it, enjoyed doing it as cruelly as possible."

'There's a _lot_ of pent-up anger in there,' Hiei thought. He was beginning to see Kurama's drinking habit in an entirely new light….

The transvestite's entire body was shivering violently now, despite the blanket. Hiei pressed him to his own body, trying to keep him warm. "I got revenge though, on those businessmen. It was quite personal- they all died by my hands, the most awful and painful deaths I could devise. It became a bit of a game, trying to think of different ways to kill them. A little fun, even."

It occurred to Hiei that Kurama's wounds were probably a key factor in the fever. He gingerly lifted up Kurama's skirt and pulled down his torn stockings-.

"_What_ are you doing?" somebody asked sharply. Toguro had come upstairs, and was now eying Hiei suspiciously, clenching his fists.

The billionaire blinked, and then realized why the giant behaved so. "It's not how it appears!" he said hastily. "He's hurt- he has this wound on his thigh and another on his stomach. And I think he has a fever."

Toguro examined the thigh wound, and then pulled up Kurama's shirt to see the one there. The redhead groaned when he felt his brow. "Your hands are too hot!" he complained, trying to push away said appendages.

"Kurama, have you eaten anything recently?" Toguro asked.

"Does vodka count?" he asked weakly. Hiei and Toguro both groaned.

"Kurama," Toguro said. "You should probably rest; we'll try to make the fever break." He and Hiei lay the redhead down on the mattress and tucked blankets around him.

"She died, too, a few years after Kuronue." Kurama curled up under the blankets, looking very drowsy. "And the chief executive of her estate tracked me down- man I'd known all my life, he refused to look me in the eye the entire time we met, damned coward. She'd left me everything: house, money, possessions, et cetera...

"... I never hated her. I tried to, but I couldn't. I hated many things about her, but I could never bring myself to hate _her_. And I thought that maybe, possibly, this gesture, that she never disowned me, that she left me heir, meant that maybe despite all she'd said, despite throwing me out and everything, that maybe a part of her still loved me..."

Hiei and Toguro stood by, uncomfortable buy unable to do anything, and watched this delirious, feverish Kurama cry himself to sleep.

"Kuronue…" Toguro muttered thoughtfully. "I've heard that name before…."

"The other co-founder," said Hiei. "They were lovers. He was saying a lot of things earlier."

The giant nodded slowly. "So he's made you a sort of confidant," he observed, without the slightest hint of envy in his voice.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." A confidant. Hiei couldn't help but think of scenes he's watched in hospital dramas, where the dying patient confessed all his or her woes to a priest or somebody along those lines. Though he doubted Kurama would appreciate that sort of comparison- he got the drift that the transvestite wouldn't like those who claimed to be 'holy persons'- and he wasn't so sure that he could blame him, either, given what he caught from Kurama's feverish account.

But be it a 'holy person'- of which Hiei was most certainly not, or a family member/loved one or a complete stranger, in those dramas the dying person almost always made some sort of deathbed statement. And that was the part that frightened him.


	19. Chapter XIX

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 19  
October 21, 2005

"Found some aspirin," Toguro announced. "It should help reduce the fever."

"Yeah?" Hiei kept his eyes on the sleeping figure of his former captor. "Please tell me you didn't find it on the floor or something."

"What sort of moron do you take me for?" Toguro asked irritably. "Actually, the obnoxious orange-haired kid had an entire bottle on him." The giant propped Kurama up and gently nudged him awake. "I need you to swallow something," he told the half-asleep redhead. "You'll feel better."

"I'm not taking any damn sedatives," Kurama grumbled, looking surprisingly malicious for someone barely awake.

"Kurama, this is Otouto, not Karasu. It's only aspirin."

Hiei watched Toguro try to persuade Kurama to swallow the medicine, but his mind was elsewhere.

Of course he'd already known that Kurama and Suichi Minamino were one in the same- at least, he'd strongly suspected. But it'd still been somewhat startling to hear that fragmented autobiography spill from the gangster like that. It had to have been due to the effects of the fever, surely, but he'd still heard it all the same.

This Kurama- Suichi- whoever- and he were in some ways more alike than he would have once thought, and he discovered that he was beginning to feel a connection of sorts toward Kurama, and pity even.

As he pondered over this, Toguro persuaded Kurama to take the aspirin, and the redhead settled back into a reclining position on the bed, eying everything with a more aware expression on his face, though he did not say anything, really. When Toguro, satisfied that for the moment Kurama was fine, announced that he was going to commandeer Daddy-O's television set to see if anything regarding Karasu or the incident at the Minamino house was mentioned, Kurama only mumbled, "Don't trust everything you see on the news, Otouto."

"Keep an eye on him," Toguro mumbled to Hiei on his way out. The billionaire nodded, and looked back over to Kurama.

The transvestite looked out the window. "It'll be morning soon, won't it?"

Hiei nodded. "I think so."

Kurama sighed, not the sigh of one who is disappointed, but rather of one who is exhausted, perhaps in more than just the physical sense. "I miss it, you know? The sun. I can't recall the last time I set foot out into the light, walked down the street and felt the sun on my face. I think I started to dodge the light, even before I became a thief. I think I didn't want people staring at me, at a boy wearing girls' clothes. It always made me feel bad, like their eyes could see right through me or something. I've missed the sun."

Hiei fathomed that if those people's eyes were truly capable of seeing through Kurama they'd see the person crippled by inconsiderate minds and then maybe they'd stop staring. It wasn't fair. "When did you start dressing like a woman?" he asked softly.

A few days ago, Kurama would have perhaps slapped the other man, or at least offer a snappish retort rather than answering such a personal question- this specific one he'd never answered before.

Instead, he answered the question honestly. "Kuronue had brought home some various items that he planned to sell- it wasn't until later that I found out he had actually stolen them- and this included women's intimate clothing. They caught my eye, for some reason. It made me feel weird, and that feeling was probably helped by the one of many horrible comments my mother said to me before throwing me out.

"I don't really know what I was thinking, but I donned this stolen lingerie. And I remember that I was standing in front of this mirror, looking at myself in this women's clothing, and then Kuronue and one of his co-workers walked in."

"Yeah?" Hiei tried to imagine what it must be like to be caught like that. A mixture of awkward and terrifying, he figured. "What happened?"

"I froze," Kurama replied. "I felt humiliated. The other mechanic began laughing at me and making some dumb ass remarks. But Kuronue hauled off and punched him, and told him that if he ever said anything that stupid again he'd have to take all his meals through a straw for the remainder of his life." The redhead smiled in remembrance. "He said he thought I looked hot like that, and then he shooed out the other guy and shut the door and... he took the rest of the afternoon off to show me just _how_ hot he found that ensemble." He shrugged. "I don't know just _why _I liked wearing women's clothing, but I continued doing so, and Kuronue didn't object, and anybody who said anything nasty about it became well-acquainted with Kuronue's knuckles."

"He stood up for you," Hiei observed, stating the obvious.

"Yes, since we first met. Quite fortunate too, as I was just thing beginning to grow familiar with the realities of the world, harsh as they often seemed, especially toward me..." He trailed off. "I must sound pretty sorry for myself, huh?"

"Not really." Hiei already knew that it must be hard to have desires and affections dubbed weird, or even perverted, by an empty-headed society afraid of progression. This society wanted them to change, and no matter what lies and illusions anybody, even themselves, created, such a change was completely impossible. Unfair as it was, Kurama's tendency to cross-dress probably served as the bait that such people would eagerly bite at for an ego-boost. "What'll you do after this is all over?" he asked.

"After _what_ is all over?" the redhead asked.

"This Karasu mess. What'll you do afterwards?"

"There's an afterwards?" Kurama asked dryly. "I don't even know if I'll s_urvive _this- Karasu's rather stubborn when he really wants something."

"You speak as though you've given up. What you're talking about isn't going to happen. You-"

"But what do you care?" Kurama interrupted. "You'll be going home to your mansion or whatever, yes? Or continue that search of yours I've heard bits and pieces about?"

"I don't believe there's any need to continue searching," Hiei said quietly. "I've found the someone."

"Yukina," Kurama guessed, though he really didn't care.

"You."

Kurama raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"You. I want to take you with me back to Makai Estates- it's completely different then the city. It's better there, I promise. You could have anything you'd ever want or need there- it'd be much better than the life you're leading right now." Hiei eyed one of Kurama's bare arms, noting how bony it was. "And I'd hire the best cooks I could find, and I would have them fatten you up," he said. "You wouldn't have to drink anymore, and you wouldn't have to worry about anything ever again, because I'd take care of you."

Kurama studied the billionaire suspiciously, wondering if this was some cruel jest. Hiei's face was earnest. "And you would have me?" he inquired. "Like some pet to keep?"

"No," Hiei said hastily. "Not a pet, certainly not a pet- a companion, a friend. And certainly not to keep; to love."

"Love?" Kurama gave him an odd look. "And what makes you so sure that I love you back?"

"You just spilled your guts to me-"

"- Because of a fever. Besides, Toguro was here too."

"You told me about Suichi before, when you were perfectly fine. Did Toguro know about Suichi?"

"No. But Karasu knows. Hm? Maybe I told him."

"Did you?"

"No," Kurama admitted. "At least, not that I recall..."

"So, I interpret that all to be gestures of trust, like the kind one would show to somebody they felt close to."

"And so because of that you suggest that I love you?"

"Maybe," Hiei replied. "Am I right?"

He received yet another odd look. "Doesn't matter," answered Kurama. "Whether I do or not- you can't love me."

"I can," protested Hiei. "Be it friendship or romantic, it's some strong connection. Can't that be love?"

"Yes... But that's beside the point. Friend, romantic interest, whatever- whether you love me or not, you _can't_, understand?"

"And why not? If this is because we're both men, so what? People must eventually learn to open their minds toward-"

"You should know full well by now that I don't give the slightest damn about gender," interrupted the redhead. "You don't get it, do you? Somebody wants to _kill _me right now. Mind you, I don't intend on letting Karasu have his way, not without a fight, but there are some other factors in addition. Have you forgotten what I am? The Yoko, leader of the Youkai. People have done some rather unseemly stuff under me, you know, and I as an individual have _anything_ but a clean record. It's probable that after all of this, if I don't escape, I'll be arrested. And if that happens, I'll go to prison, and I'll be there the rest of my life... Unless they decide to execute me- do they still do the death penalty?"

Hiei shook his head. "No, not often. I think everyone's begun to realize how absurd it is." Kurama nodded. "Look, if imprisonment is what you're worried about, we could try to get around it. I have money; I could-"

"Absolutely not," Kurama cut him off. "I don't want you making any bribes for me- shit like that only contributes to why the courts are so crooked." He shot Hiei a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, but I don't see any way that I could go home with you, so you may as well forget about it. I'm a lost cause."

"No you're-" They both jumped when they heard an explosion, quite close by.

"What a persistent ass," Kurama muttered. "Though I expected no less from him." He rose from the bed and limped toward the stairs.

* * *

"Do step aside, Toguro," Karasu said coolly. "The altar is waiting; I must collect my bride." Toguro moved to block his advancement into the garage.

"Haven't you heard, Karasu?" Yukina asked. "It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding."

Karasu narrowed his eyes. "That mouth of yours has you in enough trouble already, Yukina. I wouldn't make things worse for yourself if I were you."

"There isn't going to be any wedding," Toguro growled. "And no bride. You have your gang now; leave Kurama out of it."

"Ah, but I still need Kurama- I want his finances, you see, his property."

"And what would be the point of that now?" demanded Toguro. "You destroyed who knows how much of the house-"

"But that can be fixed, with money."

"And what if all the money was in the house? What if you've unintentionally made your 'bride' penniless again? Isn't he worthless to you then?"

Karasu appeared as though he hadn't thought of that. Then his eyes became malevolent slits. "If he's worthless to me, then there's no point in keeping him around any longer, is there?" Toguro continued to block him. "The days when you virtually owned me are over, Toguro; I've long since rose up above you. _Move._" When Toguro didn't, Karasu whipped out a gun and shot the giant in the foot.

Even as Yukina and Bui rushed toward the two of them, he kept his gun trained on Toguro. "Kurama always did like you better," he declared. "I suppose he sensed more good in you than in I. Too bad- had you brought yourself to sleep with him, you might have been his next Kuronue."

He made for the stairs. "Don't even think about it," he said, pointing the gun at Yusuke before he, Keiko, or Kuwabara could even move. 'I'll admit that that punch of yours caught me off guard, but don't count on dumb luck twice in a row." He darted upstairs.

Kurama seemed to be waiting for him at the top. "Good evening, Foxy," he said in a mock-cordial tone. "I do hope you've been resting- Why, you play the role of blushing bride quite well," he sneered, noting the redhead's feverish appearance.

"Cut the bullshit, Karasu," Kurama interrupted icily. "Do you intend to kill me with that?" he inquired, gesturing with his left hand toward Karasu's gun.

Karasu examined the gun thoughtfully, as though having just now seen it. "Eventually, perhaps," he replied coolly. He eyed his former unwilling bed partner, noting that he could not see Kurama's right hand, wondering if it held a gun. "But not right now; it would be rather difficult for the surgeon to operate on a corpse, correct?"

"This 'surgeon' won't be performing on _anything_," hissed Hiei, his body tensing up.

Karasu glanced at Hiei, only now noticing the billionaire's presence in the room. "Well now," he sneered, looking at Hiei, the bed, and then at Kurama. "And you were angry with _me _before?" Kurama glared. "Enough of this; come with me now, and maybe I'll be gentle on the honeymoon- Unless you want to fight, and then I'll make it like that _other _time..."

Kurama's already pale face blanched white. Hiei noticed, realized what Karasu must be referring to, and felt ill. "You..." he growled, seeing red and going for Karasu-.

Kurama tensed as Karasu pulled the trigger and Hiei crumpled to the floor, blood squirting up from his leg. Karasu raised his gun again. "Toguro in the foot, Jaganshi in the leg- where shall I shoot you if you won't come?"

A cracking noise answered him; Karasu's gun flew out of his hand, making a clattering noise as it skidded across the floor of the loft. Karasu cried out in pain as Kurama cracked the bullwhip again. "Nowhere, Karasu."

Both he and Karasu, and Hiei the wounded spectator on the floor, were momentarily distracted by the din of police sirens approaching. Kurama recognized the source of the sound first, and smirked. "Well now, Karasu, you really must _love_ drawing attention to yourself, huh? That's the _second _time you've attracted the police to us in one week. We're both going to jail, you do know that? Wonder if the bad boys in there will make you into a prison bitch?"

"Speak for yourself, _Suichi!_" growled Karasu. He made a mad dash for the gun; Kurama followed swiftly, despite his wounds, adrenaline pumping through his body. Karasu picked up the gun, but Kurama tackled him with as much force as the redhead could summon, and then gun went flying again. Karasu twisted around and pinned Kurama to the floor, digging his fingers into the latter's shoulders. "Does this feel familiar, Suichi?" jeered Karasu while the transvestite yelled and struggled and smacked at him. He tried reaching over Kurama for the gun.

Kurama flung Karasu off of him. "I won't be intimidated!" he snapped, kicking the other gangster in the stomach. He wrenched around and groped for the gun.

Karasu lunged for Kurama; the redhead found the gun and whirled around, firing a bullet with passionate precision at Karasu. The latter had only time enough to widen his eyes in shock before the bullet entered his head. Brains spattered on the window behind him, which shattered as the body fell backwards through it to the street below.

Kurama stumbled backward, leaning unsteadily against the wall. He took deep breaths, amazed at how loud and fast his heart was beating. 'Good bye, Karasu,' he though, not the least bit sorry that the man he'd reluctantly shared his bed with these past years was now dead. Indeed, those last few minutes certainly had reminded him, as Karasu had suggested earlier, of that _other _time- when Karasu the newcomer had gotten him drunk off of vodka, and then threw him onto the bed and hit him and, to his bewilderment, quoted to him pieces of information about Suichi and Shiori Minamino, and Kuronue, while he ripped Kurama's skirt up over his rear and tore at his stockings...

'How did he know?' Kurama wondered again, though he knew he would never know the exact answer. It really didn't matter now, anyways.

He straightened up and looked over at Hiei. The billionaire lay on the floor by the bed, blood clotted on a torn pant leg and only half-conscious. Kurama limped over and laid Hiei out gingerly. He located the entry wound in Hiei's leg. "Talk to me, Hiei," he muttered.

"... Is he gone?" Hiei asked softly.

"Yes," answered Kurama. "He won't bug anyone anymore." He clawed at the fabric of Hiei's pants, tearing the area around his wound.

Hiei groaned. "He raped you?"

Kurama didn't like this question, but wanted to keep Hiei talking. "Yes," he admitted, quickly averting his gaze to the wound and away from the billionaire's face. "A long time ago."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay," the transvestite said hastily. "It happens, especially when you live on the streets, I guess." He examined the wound with scrutiny. The bullet hadn't gone in too deep; rather it'd lodged itself into the crest of the bone. Kurama shuddered, recalling from his school days how the crest harbored a lot of nerves and knowing that Hiei must currently be in a lot of pain. 'You need to go to a hospital," he murmured.

The billionaire grinned weakly. "What, you can't operate on it yourself?" he joked.

"You're going to a hospital," Kurama said firmly. "You and Toguro both need to go to a hospital," he added, remembering now how Karasu had said he'd shot the giant in the foot, feeling guilty that he'd forgotten.

"And so do you," Hiei said. "You're sick."

"_I'll _be fine," Kurama retorted, contemplating how he was going to get Hiei and Toguro to a hospital.

"Kurama."

"Yes?"

"Don't run," he pleaded. "Don't disappear into the underworld or wherever after this, okay?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't run away; you shouldn't be afraid anymore."

Kurama blinked. "Of course I won't run away," he said after a moment. He felt bad saying this, for even as the words came out of his mouth he was studying Hiei's features closely, memorizing them, doubting he'd ever see Hiei again after leaving him at the hospital. He'd have to do the same to Toguro too, probably.

"Kurama," Hiei murmured, fearing that he knew what it was the transvestite was planning. "You helped me and those kids when you didn't have to. That has to amount to something."

"Your point?"

"I don't want you running way and winding up dying alone in an alley or something."

The redhead furrowed his brow. "I already told you I'm not going to run away-"

"Yes you are. You're going to run away, and you're going to ignore the fact that you're already sick, and then you'll die in the gutter like a dog. And you don't deserve that, got it?"

He pursed his lips. "You're exaggerating..."

"Listen to me. I could hire the best lawyers. I'll testify for you. We'll try for a light sentence for you."

"Uh-huh..."

"I'm _serious_," Hiei said. "It's possible. And when your sentence is up, I'll bring you to Makai Estates and you'll never have to set foot in downtown ever again if you don't want to." He gave Kurama a solemn look, trying to ignore the pain he was in. "Will you let me do that for you?"

He received a blank stare. "That could ruin your reputation," he said slowly.

"I don't care about that!" Hiei growled. "I care about _you_." He grabbed Kurama's wrist so tightly that the cross-dresser winced a little. "I _love_ you- please let me fight for you."

Kurama tensed. Hiei's words sounded so honest and urgent that the redhead's paranoia was ebbing. He felt weird; an emotion came over him that he hadn't experienced in so long that it was almost foreign. This feeling, he kind of liked it.

"All right," he said softly. "I won't run away." He kissed Hiei on the forehead. "I promise."

Relief flooded the billionaire's face. "Good," he sighed. "I love you."

"Now you're just being redundant," Kurama murmured. "I love you too." He bit his lip and looked around. "Hiei," he began, "I'm going to move you onto the bed so you'll be more comfortable, and then I'll call an ambulance, okay?" He looked down only to discover that Hiei had lost consciousness. He smiled a little, and gently lifted him off of the floor and onto the bed.

Just as he laid Hiei onto the mess of sheets and blankets, he heard footsteps running up the stairs behind him. Kurama turned around in time to see a flash of blue, and to hear a roar in his ears. He uttered a sharp gasp as he felt a pain in his chest and stumbled backwards. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hiei asleep on the bed, and then his vision faded to black as he hit the floor.


	20. Chapter XX

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 20  
October 28, 2005

"Where is my son?" Atsuko Urameshi demanded. The nurse gestured down the hall, and she shoved past her. "Yusuke!" she exclaimed when she saw her son lying in the hospital bed. "Oh my gosh; you're filthy!"

"Well, we didn't really have access to showers," Yusuke replied.

"Are you okay?" she asked, practically as an afterthought.

"Yes, Mom. Could you ask one of the doctors or nurses how Keiko and Kuwabara are?"

"I don't understand _how _you can be so concerned about them," his mother said distastefully. "She's a tramp; he's a hoodlum, and they-"

"Are my friends," interrupted Yusuke firmly. "Could you please just go check on them?"

Atsuko rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. I'll be back in a little bit, got it?" Yusuke nodded. Atsuko went into the hall, almost knocking down another woman as she did so. "Watch where you're going!" she barked, casting a scornful eye over this girl and her clothes.

Yukina glared. "Bitch," she muttered as she continued on her way. She peered into the window of every room she passed by- rousing the scrutiny of several hospital staff members, whom she ignored- until she turned a corner and collided with the person on the other side, resulting in both parties becoming more acquainted with the floor.

"Sorry," the Koorime said, brushing aqua strands back from her face. Her hair tie, stretched and worn from much use, had come loose.

"That's okay," Kuwabara said, rising to his feet and brushing himself off. "I don't watch my step as often as I should. Hey," he said, seeing her face, "you were at the garage."

"Yeah," she replied. "Do you know where everyone was placed?"

He shrugged. "I probably shouldn't even be out here, but those hospital rooms are so damn boring that I _had _to freaking escape, you know?"

She laughed, but over the carrot-top's shoulder she saw a woman who rather resembled Nurse Ratchet approaching them. "Uh, I think we're busted; we'd better split."

"Yeah. And if anyone asks, you didn't see me." They separated and began walking in opposite directions. "Oh wait!" Kuwabara exclaimed, having noticed something red on the dull-colored floor. "Your tie-thingy."

"Um, you keep it," Yukina called, having found the room whose occupant she'd been searching for.

"Uh, thanks," Kuwabara muttered, wondering what the hell he was supposed to do with a scrunchie.

Yukina made to go inside when the Ratchet-like nurse caught up with her. "You can't go in there-"

"The hell I can't!" she snapped. "I'm his sister!"

Nurse Ratchet was about to argue, but then noticed Yukina's height and eye color. "Okay," she said meekly. Yukina went inside.

Hiei looked up from the hospital bed. "You're not here to kill me, are you?" he asked groggily.

She smirked. "I see the anesthesia hasn't worn off yet. Don't worry, I'm not armed or anything." Yukina took a seat in a chair by the bed. "How do you feel?" she inquired.

"Fine," Hiei replied. "The surgery wasn't anything too major. What happened?"

"Cops stormed the garage; they were tailing Karasu. A couple of them went upstairs, and I guess they saw Kurama tending to you and took it the wrong way. They shot him."

_"What?" _Hiei asked sharply.

"Well, afterwards they realized that Kurama trying to _help _you- anyways, they had an ambulance on stand-by and you, those kids, Toguro, and Kurama were all brought here."

"How is he?"

"I don't know," Yukina answered, guessing to whom he meant. "I haven't seen him yet. Or Toguro." She shrugged.

Hiei hesitated a moment. "So, why'd you come to check on me?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"_Because _because!" she snapped. "What are you, _three?"_

Hiei smirked. "Didn't we play a game like that when we _were _three?"

In spite of herself, Yukina smiled a little. "I think we might have," she admitted.

Silence fell between the siblings. "So..." Hiei said. "Do you miss Sakyo at all?"

Yukina looked thoughtful. "Yes, I suppose. I mean, he wasn't a lover or anything like that, but he was still very kind to me and treated me like and actual person. And he was loyal to Kurama- it's kind of hard to find loyalty as a strong characteristic in most people these days."

Hiei nodded in agreement. "Kurama told me that Sakyo rescued you from someone named Tarukane."

"Yeah." Yukina frowned. "Tarukane was really mean."

"Did he ever-?"

"No. He tried, of course, but..." She smirked. "I guess he suffered from performance malfunction or something."

They both burst out laughing. Then, after a moment, Hiei asked, "Do you hate me?"

"What?" Yukina donned an odd look. "No."

Hiei blinked. "Really?"

"Really, really. What?" Hiei looked weird.

"I'm not going to wake up and find this all to be a dream?" Yukina shook her head. "What are you going to do now?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I'm pretty sure that I might be in trouble with the police..." She shrugged again. "I'd better see if I can find Otouto..." Yukina turned to leave.

"Hey," Hiei called after her. "Could we... meet sometime, and talk some more?"

Yukina nodded. "I think I might like that."

Hiei watched her leave, and smiled. Maybe being kidnapped and shot had been worth it...

'Of course it was,' he thought, Kurama coming to mind.

A tap-tapping sound jerked him from his thoughts. "Hello, Yomi," he said to his business partner.

Yomi didn't return his greeting; he wore an expression upon his face that signified he was deep in thought. "Suichi Minamino..." the blind man mused. "Tell me Hiei, what was it like, being captive to him?"

Hiei shrugged, but then remembered that Yomi could not see. "Interesting," he said. "_He's _interesting, to say the very least. I first thought one thing of him, and then another, and..."

"He's an enigma," Yomi said. "Always has been."

"Yeah." And then Hiei furrowed his brow. "You speak as though you know him."

"I knew him," Yomi nodded. "When we were younger."

Hiei recalled something Kurama had said while describing Suichi's- his- childhood: 'Your Mukuro and Yomi came from the Makai District, too.' "Did Mukuro also know him?"

"No. Mukuro lived only a block from Suichi and me, but to us she was simply that sad-looking little girl one saw standing on the porch of her house, watching all the other children pass by on their way home from school. She inadvertently repelled people, and I regret that neither of us ever approached her.

"Though Mukuro and I were practically neighbors since infancy, we did not become personally acquainted until post-high school. Previous to that, Suichi had relocated to a shabby loft further downtown- his mother threw him out upon discovering he was a homosexual-"

"I know."

"- and despite the disapproval of my parents and peers, I still visited my old friend Suichi- thought by then he'd taken to answering to the name Kurama; I believe it was a name devised by his boyfriend, as a friendly way of teasing him about his work ethic, or something of that manner..." Yomi shrugged. "But these visits were abruptly ended when a clash between rival gangsters in front of the garage Suichi now lived over resulted in armed fighting; I was caught in the midst of it and lost function of my eyes as a result. I was thereafter incapable of making the trip downtown to see my friend unaccompanied, and nobody would be willing to escort me to the loft of a pair of homosexual lovers, even if one of them was a boy we'd all known for damn near two decades who'd inflicted nothing but good upon his neighbors and even complete strangers. People are stupid that way.

"And thus I stayed for a time strictly within the confines of the neighborhood I'd grown up in. Life to me then was quite droll, as I was still unaccustomed to my new world without light. I received help from neither my parents nor my neighbors- nobody wished to take time from their oh-so-important agendas so that I might begin to learn Braille or how to maneuver without sight."

Yomi had never before shared with him how he lost his sight. Hiei listened intently, at the same time observing from Yomi's account and recalling from Kurama's that the people who had lived in that neighborhood were not probably so pure and good as they would have thought themselves to be.

"Around this time I grew acquainted with Mukuro. She'd been out of town for a while, and had only recently returned from the hospital." What Yomi did not say, and did not have to say, was that Mukuro had been in the hospital having her body 'repaired' after mutilating it. "I never saw the 'monster' that the neighbors spoke of- I only heard a woman's voice, and never thought that a reason to turn away from her. The two of us eventually left together, thought you already know that.

"I came back periodically until my parents had died. As you know, I could not see, but I _could _hear; rumors were circulating around that quaint, jubilant little neighborhood"- Yomi said this with a bit of a sneer- "concerning Suichi- neighbors claimed that they'd spotted him in the downtown clad in women's clothing of a racy fashion and calling himself 'Yoko.' Everybody seemed convinced that he'd become a prostitute or something- of course, none of them were surprised, for we all know that the term homosexual is practically synonymous with being a sexually promiscuous deviant devoid of any moral fiber or good strong values whatsoever, do we not?" Yomi paused a moment to smile bitterly at his own satire. "Some people even blamed him for his mother's death, claiming that her sadness and struggle with having such a sinful son- a sodomite, a faggot, an abomination- drove this good moral woman to an early grave."

Hiei's eyes had been narrowing more and more throughout this story, and now they were so tiny of slits that he was barely able to make out the features of the blind man sitting beside his bed. People were far too stupid far too often. He by now clearly understood Kurama's hatred of the public, and vowed that when he finally brought the redhead home never again should he play the role of victim of other people's stupidity and prejudice. "Have you seen Kurama yet?" he asked.

"That's not possible," Yomi countered.

"Don't be so literal," said an annoyed Hiei. "You know what I mean."

"I do," replied the blind man, "and it's not possible."

Hiei blinked. "What?"

"There once was a time when Suichi and I were quite close, and even now after so many years of estrangement I do still pity him for all the wrongs inflicted upon him and everything he had to endure. And if he retained any of his original personality upon becoming 'the Yoko,' I'm sure you may have liked him at least a little too." Yomi sighed. "And now I am very sorry that I have to tell you that Suichi was pronounced D.O.A."

The billionaire's stomach churned. "Pardon?" he asked weakly.

"It means Dead On Arrival-."

"I know what it means," interrupted Hiei, his voice developing a somewhat shrill quality to it all of a sudden. "Why was he pronounced D.O.A.?"

"I would think that rather self-explanatory."

"Quit playing those mind games!" Hiei snapped. "How can he be dead? I was talking to him in the damn loft... I was going to help him get a light sentence; I was going to wait for him to get out; I was..." His voice faltered; he searched Yomi's face desperately. This was some horrible, tasteless joke- he was going to kill Yomi, the sick-humored bastard.

"Well, perhaps you liked him _more _than just a little. But Suichi's wound... They would not have been able to save him; they tried their hardest, the ambulance crew, and the surgeons in the E.R. tried to revive him, but he was gone."

Hiei felt as though he may vomit. "Did he suffer at all?"

"I don't know," Yomi replied honestly. "He was conscious for a time, and talking to one of the paramedics. She spoke to me afterward, when I inquired about him." He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and offered it to Hiei. "She said that this was meant for you, that he had insisted on writing it himself and refused to allow her to do it for him."

Hiei took the paper, feeling horribly numb and empty as he did. The lettering was somewhat illegible, as though written by a shaking hand. This, combined with the fact that his own hands were trembling violently, made it so that he could barely read it. When he was finished he crumpled the note in his fist, brining it to his face. "Where is he right now?" he asked hoarsely. His eyes had begun to sting.

"He's in the morgue," Yomi answered softly. "They're doing an autopsy." "_Why?"_ he hissed. "They know what killed him. That's so stupid."

"I think it's just procedure."

He nodded absently, staring at the creases of his hospital sheets. "Has anybody claimed the body?"

"No. I don't believe Suichi's survived by anybody. Why?"

"Tell them... Tell them that I'll make the arrangements, when they're through..."

Yomi nodded. "I'll do that now." He knew what Hiei wished to do, something that the Koorime would refuse to do with Yomi there to witness.

Hiei watched through stinging-hot watery eyes as Yomi left the room and shut the door behind him; he wanted to thank his partner but couldn't due to the lump in his throat. When he no longer heard the tap-tapping of the blind man's cane, he allowed this lump to dissolve and began bawling.


	21. Chapter XXI

Well, here it goes, folks- the last chapter. I'm not sure what all there is to say, but read the chapter, read the ending notes, and I hope nothing is left unsaid (Wow, brief opening, eh?)

Yu Yu Hakusho Inversed  
Chapter 21  
November 6, 2005

Lyrics borrowed from the song "You Were Loved" by Whitney Houston:

_You were loved by someone  
Touched by someone  
Held by someone  
Meant something to someone  
Loved somebody  
Touched somebody's heart  
Along the way  
You can look back and say (mm)  
You did okay  
You were loved _

* * *

"Urameshi's coming!" somebody shouted. Everyone within the vicinity immediately snapped to attention; they looked about this way and that, trying to spot the aforementioned person.

And then he appeared- the boy with the neatly-combed hair, wearing clean, neat clothes of a fresh spring-green hue, who carried tucked underneath one arm all his text books bound together by a single leather strap. And everybody in the courtyard hurried out of his way, the most anxious of looks upon their faces.

He heard the tattoo of another's footsteps fall in rhythm with his own. "Looks like you have everybody afraid of you now, Yusuke," said Keiko, walking beside him. "Don't go taking my job now," she teased. "It's basically all I have."

At this remark Yusuke laughed. "What am I to you, some sort of punk?" They both laughed hysterically. "They probably heard about me punching Karasu is all," he said once his sides had ceased hurting.

"Actually, I was wondering if maybe it was because of what you did to the Principal," said Keiko.

"Steel toes are wonderful," Yusuke remarked, glancing down at his shoes lovingly. "But he _was _asking for it for some time- and he should be thankful that he hasn't been arrested... yet. You think his voice will stay that high?"

Students and faculty members eyed the two as they strolled down the hall, and to them this once perplexing pair now made complete sense. And it was uncertain as to just what they now feared- and yet somewhat revered- Yusuke Urameshi for doing: for being the nerdy goody-two shoes who slugged a high-ranking member of the now-disbanded Youkai gang, or for kicking the principal in the testicles so hard that he had to be ushered to the emergency room...

"Ow!" Yusuke exclaimed. He rubbed the back of his head, and turned around to see what had hit him. A textbook lay on the ground by his heels. "Huh?" He picked it up.

"Give me my book back, Urameshi!" Kuwabara yanked the textbook from Yusuke's hold. "You can't keep my aspiring mind from learning, you jerk!"

"Uh, right," Yusuke managed, entertaining the thought of socking the carrot-top. "Where've you been today?"

"He cut school to go look for _her _again," Keiko muttered.

"'Her'?"

"His 'green-haired angel with eyes of blood', or whatever the hell his dork-ass poem said."

Yusuke snorted. "He wrote a poem?"

"Hey!" Kuwabara exclaimed angrily. "What are you doing stealing my, uh, stuff?"

"I _have _to learn to steal, you know, so I can support those dozen bastard children _you _claim I'll have," Keiko retorted.

"'Green-haired angel with eyes of blood'- wait, you mean that girl gangster...?" Yusuke asked.

"She happens to have a name," Kuwabara said hotly. "Which is Yukina." He said the name with much adoration.

Keiko made a coughing noise that suspiciously resembled "Dreamer."

"Hey! It can happen! I've got _love _on my side!" His companions both gave him weird looks. "Behold!" Kuwabara held up his index finger, which had some sort of red cord wound about it. "The red string of love! Just like in that old legend."

Keiko examined the 'red string of love', and then raised her eyebrow. "Dumbass, that's a hair scrunchie."

"Shut up! Fine, it's the red _hair scrunchie _of love, whatever! And it _can _happen, because so long as she is Yukina and I am Kazuma Kuwabara, _anything _is possible!"

"Right... I think you scared me less when you were routinely beating the shit out of me," laughed Yusuke.

"Ooh, Yusuke swear?" Keiko donned an expression of mock-horror. "Surely the apocalypse is nigh!"

Yusuke frowned while the other two burst into laughter, but shrugged it off. "Yeah, well, you'd better not say a word about it, or else my mother and grandmother may decide you're all a bad influence and not want you around anymore, you know?"

Kuwabara ceased laughing immediately. "No..." he said in a near-whisper, his eyes wide. "I... can't..." He clutched the sides of his head. "I... won't go back to life without Genkai's chocolate-chip cookies! The only thing that could be sweeter in this world would be the sound of Yukina's voice... yelling at some loser..."

"Somebody grab a bucket to catch that drool coming out of his mouth," grumbled Keiko, rolling her eyes. "Is your mom going to be there?"

Atsuko Urameshi, though she hadn't flat-out said it, had been emitting very intense vibes that screamed her dislike for Yusuke's companions, "the tramp" in particular. Yusuke figured that his mother feared what people may say should they be seen with people like Keiko Yukimura. Stupid people, Yusuke thought. Too stupid; forget them.

"Well," he began, "if she is, and she says something, I'll tell her off for you, how's that sound?" He grinned at Keiko, who after a moment, grinned back.

* * *

Koenma dropped his pen, flexing his hand and wincing. "Ouch! I think it's permanently cramped. Botan," he whined, "finish my report for me."

"Finish it yourself," Botan grumbled. "I have my own work to finish."

He groaned. "Fine. Maybe Ayame-"

"Hasn't even begun her own yet," interrupted Botan.

This earned another groan. "I _hate _paperwork..."

"I wouldn't carry on like that," warned Ayame, approaching the two. "You wouldn't want _him _to hear..."

The three of them glanced apprehensively down the hall, at the door whose translucent glass window bore black letters spelling "Lieutenant George Ogre."

"Yeah..." Koenma muttered. "Am I imagining it, or has he been even _more _of a hardass lately?" He said this in a low voice, and even then glanced over his shoulder, relived when the Lieutenant's office displayed no signs of further aggravation.

"Well, I think he hates to admit that Mr. Yomi was right about a _lot _of things- What're those?" Botan pointed to some memos Ayame was looking through.

"Well... we've managed to recapture Ichigaki- you know, the 'doctor' that gangster Karasu broke out?"

"Yeah?" remarked Koenma. At least _something _was going right...

"But," continued Ayame, "the precinct is being sued."

"What!" exclaimed Botan. "Why?"

"For the death of Suichi Minamino-"

"Who?" asked Koenma.

"The transvestite who was killed during the raid on Daddy-O's Garage," Botan told him.

"... Which brings us to the other lawsuit," continued Ayame. "The owner of that garage is suing for unnecessary damage done to his building and endangerment of his guests."

"Guests that were all hostages and gangsters," protested Botan.

"Whatever happened to those gangsters?" wondered Koenma.

"Well, Minamino's dead," Ayame reminded him. "And the others are currently missing."

"I thought that old mechanic was insane!" Koenma continued. "How'd he manage to file a lawsuit?"

"I don't know, but he's also co-filing that first lawsuit regarding Suichi Minamino's death."

"Who's the other co-filer?" inquired Botan.

Ayame examined the memo and paled slightly. "The Lieutenant will have a field day when he learns this," she said. "It's Mr. Yomi."

They all groaned.

* * *

Hiei stood and brushed the dirt off his pants. A thorn had cut one of his fingers; he noted how the blood tasted bitter and near-metallic when he licked at the wound.

He stared down at the marble slab. It lay flat, this stone, staring up at the sunny sky. The marker was decorated with detailed engravings of various flowers, a carved garden.

It really wasn't fair, he thought. What crimes had led Kurama here? Honesty toward his mother resulted in betrayal and loss of his family and home. Poverty resulted in thievery, which in turn resulted in Kuronue's death, which in turn resulted in the metaphorical death of Suichi.

... And then helping Hiei resulted in him being shot and killed. How twisted it was that Kurama seemed to be punished more for his deeds than his wrongs. Did he have to tell Shiori, when it would have been much easier to lie? Did he have to help Hiei and those kids, when leaving them for dead and covering his own hide might have been more beneficial to himself? It wasn't fair.

'I'd like to think that you'd be proud, if you were here right now,' he thought. 'I took your advice.'

After the initial shock of Kurama's death had left him, and he had stopped crying, he'd reread the note Yomi had given him from Kurama- this time actually absorbing the words as he read them:

"Remember what I told you about the Koorime. I was unable to make peace with those who wronged me, but that doesn't mean you can't. I won't have my second chance; please don't throw away yours."

'You were right. She doesn't hate me. I think things will be okay now; I think the Koorime are beginning to trust me.'

Fearing that Yukina might be prosecuted if she remained so near, Hiei had her brought her home to the Koorime on a mission. With his sister overseeing everything, Hiei would finance the construction of adequate schools and housing with heat for the Koorime. Proper mining technology, too. And after the necessities were all covered would come, Hiei hoped, large exquisite greenhouses- entire indoor parks equipped with head and humidity, a luxury completely foreign to the mountainous region of the Koorime, so that the vegetation could thrive. All of this, and, after discussion with Yomi, a legal agreement giving the Koorime women and hermaphrodites a grand share of the profit from the sale of Hiruseki stones.

"Did you hire a new gardener?" Yomi asked.

"No," Hiei replied.

To somebody foreign to everything that had elapsed till then, such a question asked at such a place at such a time would seem most inappropriate. Hiei, however, knew that Yomi was probably mourning in his own way and harbored no disrespectful intentions toward this occasion. In fact, the blind man's reaction toward recent events amused Hiei, in a way, and left him with a feeling of satisfaction.

Yomi had learned of the old mechanic whose building Hiei, Kurama, and company had been discovered in. After paying this man a visit one day Yomi had come to Hiei to inform him that he knew this mechanic from when he could still see and visited Kurama in the loft, and that after all these years Daddy-O's senile mind managed to recognize Yomi's face. His mind more composed now with the aid of certain medications (currently paid for by Yomi), Daddy-O had allied with the blind man, filing lawsuits against the police department- an affair of both revenge and pride for both men. At first Hiei feared that after this ordeal was over and Yomi was satisfied he would abandon Daddy-O and allow the latter's mind to return to its former dilapidated state, but his partner assured him that had had no intention of tossing aside the old man.

"Why do you ask?" inquired Hiei.

"No particular reason," Yomi replied. "Something seems... different, is all; perhaps I'm imagining it. It smells nice, though." He appeared thoughtful. "It reminds me of when we were children, and I would come over to his house. The entire neighborhood was dry and dusty, except for his yard, which he cultivated to make his mother happy. It seemed an oasis to me; I've never forgotten it."

Hiei took this into consideration. He looked up from the bouquet of roses he'd lain down on the stone, and noted that his garden, which he'd never before paid much attention to, _did _seem somewhat different- everything appeared more fresh and vibrant and beautiful and alive than he recalled ever seeing before.

"So," continued Yomi, "will you leave yet again to pursue your little quest?"

The man in question smiled and, though he knew that Yomi could not see, shook his head. "No. I think it best not to renew that project. I'm... content, now." He picked up Yomi's can and handed it to him, silently announcing that they two were finished here.

And then he picked up his own cane with the silver dragon handle, which, due to the recent wound inflicted and the surgery performed on his leg, was currently being used for practical versus aesthetic purpose. The two walked away, Yomi (on a path so familiar to him that he needn't even ponder his footing) in the direction of his house about a quarter of a mile away, where Shura was undoubtedly blasting his stereo; and Hiei, desiring solitude so he might meditate on heavy thoughts, toward the back door of his own house. He paused on his deck, and then went inside, after looking back at the grave of Suichi "Kurama" Minamino.

* * *

'Damn traffic,' thought Toguro as he listened involuntarily to the blaring of horns and the shouting of irritable middle-class workers eager to get home to their precious houses in the suburbs. Obnoxious. But at least there wasn't so much dust in the air as usual today.

He winced as he set his foot down on the cracked sidewalk. The doctors had removed the bullet put there by Karasu, but soon after he regained consciousness Yukina had come to him, delivering to him a set of giant-sized clothes and the news that Kurama was dead; he'd bolted from the hospital as soon as he was dressed.

The Koorime girl as gone now, returned to her homeland on some arrangement made with Hiei Jaganshi. She seemed quite optimistic, and Toguro wished her the best of luck.

Quiet Bui too was gone- to where, Toguro was not quite sure. Probably someplace where he would not arouse too much unwanted attention. Toguro couldn't blame him; he was also trying to maintain a low profile.

He looked up as he walked by the lot containing the Minamino house. His eyes took in the remains of the architecture; he saw but at the same time did not see the ivy and other vegetation sprouting from seemingly nowhere to choke the charred skeleton of the structure; he did not see the little green leaves budding on the branches of trees once believed to be dead.…

Toguro entertained the thought of going for a drink at the bar (and, after having to witness Kurama's unhealthy affair with liquor, _a _drink was all he ever had in one sitting), when he felt something soft crush beneath his boots. He looked down, and this time he _did _see.

This lot- and the one beside it, and the one beside that, and the one beside _that _one- that normally played host to a few half-dead weeds at most- was now covered with thick green grass, populated with hundreds of thousands of tiny blue forget-me-nots.

The giant smiled, and walked on.

* * *

Many thoughts were running through my mind when I began to write this. My initial idea was for Hiei and Kurama to bond and, after overcoming the obstacle of an obsessive, malicious Karasu (originally, he and Kurama weren't going to be in a relationship, as warped and abusive as theirs was in my final Inversed; yes, I do realize that my original- well, maybe even my actual- plan for Kurama and Karasu really wasn't as inversed as the rest of the story, but that's just how it turned out), billionaire and gangster would, as Hiei wanted to do in the actual story, retire to Makai Estates and "live happily ever after." An innocent, feel-good type of story.

Well, then I snapped back to reality, and my innocent, feel-good AU went the way of my mpreg ideas that would evolve into "The Wrong Turns & Detours of Love"- becoming an angst-ridden drama.

Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, I suppose. Originally there wasn't going to be a history for Kurama, no innocent Suichi assaulted and betrayed and metaphorically murdered by society's closed mind, stupidity- homophobia, to be exact. Melodramatic, I know, but a point I felt needed to be included. You may have noticed that society's stupidity and inability to accept the "different" was a constant trait throughout the story, and not just where Kurama was concerned. Hiei, Yomi, Mukuro, Keiko- perhaps everybody, in one way or another.

I'm not really sure when, while contemplating this storyline, I decided that Kurama would die (again, perhaps some of you are thinking- but I promise, I won't kill Kurama in "Was It Out of Pity?"). I guess I was just thinking about a lot of things (well, I guess I still am; always the philosopher, be that good or bad, you know?), and needed somewhere to express some of those thoughts. And so the story grew darker- perhaps more so than I intended- and Kurama died. It really wasn't fair, I know, given what Suichi/Kurama/the Yoko went through, and that, as Hiei concluded, Kurama paid more for being a good person than for being a criminal. But then again, real life isn't fair, either, and sometimes it is they who have committed no true wrong who are punished the most- while the true wrong-doers too often get away with what they do, or are even hero-worshipped in a way... One has only to examine Kurama's history, his thoughts, his fate, to understand that. (Of course I know that Kurama was not the only one stigmatized in this story, but I think it clear that his was the rawest deal.)

And, as some of you have said, if really wasn't fair to up and off Kurama so abruptly just when he and Hiei had confessed their feelings for each other and things looked so optimistic. But then again, sometimes love does not guarantee earthly happiness. There is unrequited love; there is tragedy; there is death... to name a few examples. Consider such works as _The Phantom of the Opera _and _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_ and you'll see what I mean about unfairness. I wanted to illustrate that in this story.

... But perhaps it'd be a little _too _unfair to you guys, after everything I do, to not conclude on some sort of positive note, huh? So here it is:

You may recall, when Kurama was sharing the story of Suichi's naivety, betrayal, and "death", he mentioned how the boy managed to tend a garden in the middle of a vegetative wasteland, raising all sorts of flowers and such, using his talents because it made his mother, whom he loved so much, happy, which made him happy. You may also recall, towards the very beginning, a reference to Yomi's neighborhood from when he was younger: a place full of dust that could sustain little if no plant life, save for one house- and that house too eventually became a little desert. From here I trust you may put two and two together, right?

Well, consider that, and then consider the last part of this chapter, and even the excerpt from that song (which I only recall ever hearing only once, and for a reason, I'm sure came back to me while I was writing this story) that I've borrowed to open this chapter with. Kurama died happy because he felt loved again, and this had an affect on various things that had touched him at one point or another in his life.

Maybe that's a little sappy; I don't know, but interpret it as you will.

... I'm not sure what else there is to say, or that I can say. If anybody still has questions regarding this story after reading this chapter and the concluding notes, you're quite welcome to contact me, okay? Later.

- thoth moon


End file.
